Targeted company searches

The Professional Association of Resume Writers had a great conversation on their elist about how to identify companies in a specific geographic areas – like San Francisco metro and in a specific industry — life medical device or biotech – recently.

The ideas for conducting targeted searches were so good, I consolidated all the posts and am sharing the information here.

Linkedin: Create an account, if you don’t already have one. Log in, look for link to “Companies” across the top menu bar. From there search companies by zip code, industry, company size, and whether or not there are posting job openings.

Public Library: (Yes, the library). Locate The Standard Industrial Classification Manual (SIC). Please note, the SIC codes could be now be referred to as by North American Industry Classification System (NAICS).

The government assigned a SIC code to each industry. Ask the reference librarian for (specific to your geographic location) the equivalent of “The Greater San Francisco County Directory of Business and Industry” broken out by SIC code number.

The book is huge, but contains company name, company president’s name, street address and phone numbers for every business in the county that does business within that SIC code. There are letter codes for the size, number of employees, numbers of branches.

There is also ReferenceUSA. The database has a wealth of information on US and Canadian businesses. Try college and public library to see if they subscribe to this. Searches include business name, industry, geographical location and the like.

And another source for business information is the local Economic Development Corporation. They could have different names in different areas, but are usually affiliated with state or county government. Google: Economic Development Corporation and your geographic area and you’ll locate information about local organizations. They sometimes publish a list of employers and their sectors. Dig around for similar publications in different areas. The usually list employers by type and include other helpful information.

Search Chambers of Commerce for business lists online or call and ask. Search the Job Bank site for the state. (Enter “city name” as a keyword and the state abbreviation in Job Search box and you can locate job in your city.) There’s also information available on the One-Stop Web site. Here’s the link to the main map. Click on your state and explore.

You can learn a lot about a company and an industry prior to turning in an application, prior to an interview. In this day and age, there’s no reason for being uninformed.

Your network IS your net worth

This month the collective posts to coincide with Quintessential Careers Job Action Day on November 2, 2009.

Career Collective post: Once a month, a group of career professionals blog on a subject topical and timely for a job seeker. We’ll post our thoughts on our own blog and link to the post of our colleagues on the same topic.
This month’s topic: Focus on providing workers and job seekers information, ideas and concrete steps to secure their futures in a changed economy. Responses from others contributors linked at the end. Follow the hashtag #careercollective on Twitter.

During the past year, as I watched the face of the economy and, in turn, job search strategies shift, I started sharing the importance of networking and social media, more and more with my clients. Blogger and recruiter, Jeff Lipschultz included statistics from the U.S. Department of Labor in his post “40 jobs in 40 years? Fact or Fiction?” According to 2008 statistics individuals changed jobs, every 2.9 to 6.0 years. With that kind of movement, career management must include current job search knowledge. One of the most important segments of both career management and job search is an individual’s network. The tag line “Your network is your net worth.” advertises “Strictly Business”, a, weekly networking event here in Wilmington, NC and no words ring truer in the late 2009 employment environment.

My dad retired after 46 years with the same company; my mom with almost 30 years at another. The “retiring with a gold watch and a pension” days are long gone. The time when seasoned veterans sat and passed knowledge and the stories behind the design and series updates to junior employees are gone too. A strong network, cultivated over time, can serve everyone – employed or unemployed. The answers that used to come from the facility elders now come from your network and stability from four decades with the same company shifts to the stabilizing force of network connections.

Workplace dynamics now change quickly, bringing with those changes, a faster moving job market. Establishing a solid network of knowledgeable contacts helps uncover answers needed to advance a career or resolve a business issue. The problem is, many career-oriented people get so wrapped up in building their careers, the network gets neglected. I give career changers, the upwardly mobile and the unemployed all kinds of information about networking – almost as if it is a new concept, wholly foreign to them. It seems, now that they’re ready to launch a job search; they’re also ready to “launch” a network – “I’ll call ….” Unfortunately, networks don’t work that way. Waiting until you’re unemployed or ready to make a career move to start reconnecting with Joe from 10-years-ago isn’t the best plan … but then again, better late than never.

The network-less miss out on the value strong connections bring to professional and (yes) your personal lives. Not only can your network provide answers to business questions – “Who knows a good cleaning service?” or “I remember Sue had a similar event at her company, let me give her a call – shoot her an email.” Your network can speed the rebound from unemployment and make career transitions more palatable as support comes through your connections and beyond.

In an article titled, “How to Advance Your Career Without Selling Your Soul”, Joe Hodas made an interesting point. “Career-advancement tips may seem irrelevant while many employees are operating from a place of fear or are just grateful to have a job.” This puts many in today’s work force operating toward the bottom of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Pyramid, focused on protecting their jobs and the “what ifs” rather than career advancement or personal development. Shoring up workplace uncertainty with a solid network of reciprocal support makes career control and individual growth more likely.

A deep, broad, well-developed network supports improvement as well – whether it’s inspiring stretches for promotions, courage for career changes, encouragement for certifications, reaching fitness goals or self-actualization milestones. All the other tips I’d share with job seekers are the same as I’ve always said, (throughout this blog, Twitter tweets and Facebook posts), remember a job search is all about “them” – the employer. Approach everything you do from that perspective during the search and you’ll be ahead of the rest of the pack from the very beginning.

After setting the right course and understanding the process, take a step back and engage your network to uncover everything you can about the situation at hand, whether it’s job-related or job-search related. Here, in the “short rows” of 2009, more than ever, you network is your net worth, integral to career success. Nurture it with lots of giving and a little taking.

Here’s what my colleagues have to say:

Jacqui Barrett-Poindexter: You Can Thrive In, Not Just Survive, an Economic Slogging

Laurie Berenson: Making lemonade out of lemons: Turn unemployment into entrepreneurship

Chandlee Bryan: The Emerging Professional, Where the Green Jobs Are

Martin Buckland: The key to securing your future career

GL Hoffman: The Life of An Entrepreneur: Is It for You?

Gayle Howard: The Enlightened Jobseeker

Heather R. Huhman: Take Action: 10 Steps for Landing an Entry-Level Job

Rosalind Joffe: Preparedness: It’s Not Just for Boyscouts

Erin Kennedy: Cutting Edge Job Search Blueprint

Grace Kutney: Securing Your Career While Navigating the Winds of Change

Meg Montford: Job action day: Finding your “mojo” after layoff

Hannah Morgan: Why Our Job Search Advice is the Same but Different

Heather Mundell: Green Jobs – What They Are and How to Find Them

J. T. O’Donnell: Actions that get people jobs in this recession

Barbara Safani: Where the Jobs Are: 2009 and Beyond

Miriam Salpeter: Optimize your job hunt for today’s economy

Rosa E. Vargas: Are You Evolving Into The In-Demand Professional of Tomorrow?

Debra Wheatman: Plan B from outer space; or what do you have in case your first plan doesn’t work out?

And Katharine Hansen, our QuintCareers connection and Job Action Day 2009 coordinator generously shares these four posts.

Job Action Day 09: His Resume Savvy Helped New Career Rise from Layoff Ashes

Career and Job-Hunting Blog: Job Action Day 2009 Inspiring Stories

Job Action Day 09: They Leveraged Two Promising Recession-Era Opportunities: Green Careers and Entrepreneurship

Job Action Day 09: Recession is the Mother of Invention: Stories of Opportunity Springing from Unemployment

And here’s where else we’re listed: Thanks Katharine!

Career Doctor: Career Collective and other bloggers support Job Action Day 2009

Job Action Day: Empowering workers and jobseekers

Quint Careers: Job Action Day 2009 is all about emphasizing the bright spots in so-called “jobless recovery.”

QuintZine: Bloggers Drive Home Job Action Day Message

Networking opportunities in Wilmington, NC

I did some research on local networking opportunities a while back for a job seeker. She and I met though the Job Angels initiative originally started on Twitter. She recently graduated with an engineering degree and moved from Michigan to Wilmington, NC. She knew virtually no one and was anxious to launch her career. She asked me how to meet and network in this town. I put a call out to my Tweeps on Twitter to get as much info as possible for her. They did not disappoint. Following is what they shared and what I found. I was pleasantly surprised and impressed by all the opportunities this “little town” of 91,000+ had to offer.

About two weeks later, I shared the same info with a long time resident of the community, after his company eliminated his position due to a business decision. He had no idea where to start networking or what was out there (should have had a well-established network already, but…) I decided, if these two people were unaware of the resources, then most likely so were many others. Since I’ve already done the legwork, adding the info to my blog was a no-brainer.

I realize this information is specific to one geographic area, but it might give someone a place to start digging for similar opportunities in their own city. Wilmington is not a large metropolitan area, but look at what it has to offer in the way of networking opportunities for local professionals. Imagine what your town offers. If the answer is nothing, then perhaps this will inspire you to get something started.

Several of these events are held in local adult beverage watering holes. As I told my young job seeker, I’m not advocating drinking to get a job. You can order a seltzer or soft drink. In fact, it’s probably best not to drink while networking. If you do, limit yourself to one or two, depending on the length of the event. You want to be remembered, but you don’t want to be remembered as “that guy”.

1.    Professional Organizations (Google your profession and see what you find)
2.    Wilmington Professional Group
3.    Wilmington Young Professional Group (Must be a Facebook member to view this link)
4.    Business Networking International (BNI)
5.    Strictly Business
6.    Downtown Meet & Mingle the first Wednesday of the month
7.    Front Street Brewery – Gals on Grapes every Tuesday
5.    Front Street Brewery – Guys and Dolls on Hops every Wednesday
9.    Tweetups
10.  The Wilmington Networking calendar
11.  The 3rd Street Plaza Ning site

More advice I gave her: Google “networking” and “elevator speech” or “elevator introduction” and PLAN what you’re going to do and how you’re going to interact. Ask open-ended questions and don’t make the focus the job search. Be interested in people, but also be interesting. Craft an introduction that allows people to see, smell, taste and touch what you do or what you’re passionate about. Engage. Ask a question up front to encourage that engagement and find a common ground. Make your intro POP (Purposeful, original and pithy). This time it’s not about the job search. It’s about engaging and building relationships. The job search help comes as a natural evolution of people caring about you. (Patience is a virtue … or so they tell me.)

And a quick, unsolicited piece of advice … even if you land a job, cultivate and nurture your network. They’ll be the key to opportunity and advancement for your entire career. Someone always knows someone who knows someone … People are more apt to help someone who has given back as well as asked for help.

While I adore social media, meeting IRL* is even more fun. Is it worth it you ask? I met a woman who later became a client at one of our Tweetups, so I’d say yes. I didn’t go looking for work. I went to get out and meet local Tweeps. It’s always fun. The client I picked up was frosting on the cake. Now get out from behind the computer, breath some fresh air and go make some new connections. “Ya neva know” what might come of it.

*In real life

Would you brush a hippo’s teeth?

As you may already know, I ran a pet sitting service in addition to my resume writing enterprise. (October 5th I notified clients I was shutting down.) If you think working for corporate America is demanding, try caring for someone’s animals in their own home. Goodness me, the stories I could tell.

I also volunteer as a Career Expert for Careerealism’s Twitter Advice Project (T.A.P.) Anonymous individuals pose job search and work-related questions and the experts respond via Twitter in 140-characters or less. Lately, some of the questions make me stop, shake my head and wonder what’s happening to the work ethic and why people are bewildered when they’re expected to do their job.

OK, so what do pet sitting, being a career expert and a diminishing work ethic have in common? Hang in there. I’m getting to it. One of my pet sit clients wanted their cat food heated for 8 seconds; another one insisted 5 seconds was optimum – imagine how much fun it was the time I sat for both clients in the same weekend. Another left me a note telling specifically which blanket to put in the carrier in the unlikely event I had to rush her cat to the emergency room. Another had bowls labeled so each dog ate out of the correct bowl.

While there are lots more examples, you can catch the drift. Pet owners, (like business owners) are very specific about caring for their animals (businesses). Did I always agree with them? Ah, no. C’mon. How many times do you see a cat rush to the microwave to heat up a mouse or a bug before devouring it? A sick cat will know/care if it’s resting a specific blanket, really? Dogs can tell if they’re eating from the “correct” bowl? Granted order of feeding is important, but do they really care if the bowl is red or blue, as long as there’s food in it?

Did I spend time pontificating and arguing with clients and sharing my opinions about their care practices? Nope. I took notes and made sure I did as my “employers” told me. They didn’t ask for my opinion. They asked me to do a job, in the manner in which they saw best for their animals. They paid me. I “got over myself” and delivered stellar service, right down to ensuring I knew where that special cat blanket was, just in case I needed it. It was part of the job.

Some T.A.P. questioners pose queries like, “My boss expects me to get to work on time and that’s a problem”, “Why am I being held hostage? I asked to leave early for a ballgame and was told no.”, “I want to take a cooking class, but I’ll have to miss work, is that OK?”, “They’re moving people I don’t like into my department. What am I to do?” Wait. I’ll be right back. I’ve got to get some cheese to go with this whine.

If you agreed to take a job, were told the start time and now getting there on time is inconvenient, it’s a self-discipline problem. Suck it up; hire a brass band to roll you out of bed if necessary, but on-time arrival is not an unrealistic expectation. You’re allowed to ask for scheduling considerations, but based on business climate, department goals and dare I say, your supervisor’s mood, you might hear no. You’re grown. Deal with it. Gee. You have to work with someone you don’t like. Oh well. Find a way to get along during the workday. I used to tell my employees, “You don’t have to like each other at 7:59 a.m. or 5:01 p.m., but from 8-5, you better all be pulling in the same direction – toward business success – period.”

It seems most of the questions stem from a belief work is a necessary inconvenience and a business should acquiesce to the whims of each and every employee. Making everyone happy, all the time, dooms a business to failure. That’s not to say everyone should be miserable or sometimes special things can’t happen, but overall, you were hired to do a job. You agreed. You draw a paycheck because of that agreement and on payday, everybody’s even.

Bottom line, they call it work for a reason – it’s not always fun. As long as assignments aren’t immoral, unethical or illegal, stop complaining about the tiny things and do what you were hired to do. That’s not to say don’t offer opinions about business operations, that’s expected from a good employee. What I’m saying is, stop complaining when the business doesn’t revolve around your own personal wants and needs. If that becomes a problem for you, then update your resume and find a job that is more suited to your tender sensibilities. Otherwise, devote yourself to the success of the organization. If they ask you to heat cat food for 8 seconds, arrive on time or brush a hippo’s teeth, then do it with a smile and know you’re contributing to the overall success of the organization, whether you see it that way or not.

Is your job search “cookie-cutter” or “hand-dropped”?

I’ve been honored by my career colleagues with an invitation to participate in The Career Collective. Once a month, a group of career professionals will blog on a subject topical and timely for a job seeker. We’ll post our thoughts on our own blog and link to the post of our colleagues on the same topic. What a great resource for job seekers and what a great way for us, many solo-preneurs, to learn from each other. Always take advantage of shared wisdom. I do! Our first topic is: Are you a cookie-cutter job seeker? Responses from the others are linked at the end. Follow the hashtag #careercollective on Twitter.

One of the first questions I ask clients in the resume creation process is who’s our audience? I tell them we have to know what our buyer is buying before we can sell to them. I may conduct all my business over the telephone, but I know a “deer in the headlights” look when I hear one. If necessary, I back up a bit and say, “OK, let’s talk about, how you’re searching.”

I want clients to see their skills as a product, the hiring authority as people looking to buy the product and the job postings as keys to unlock the secret to what the buyer wants. Sharing their search process lets me see if they “get it”. It’s also a window to how much research they’ve done on their own and how much additional coaching I have to integrate into the process.

In spite of all the job search information out there, in this technical age, here are some “cookie cutter” responses to the “How are you searching?” question I’ve gotten in the past two weeks. No hand-dropped, custom-made cookies here:

“I looked in the paper this past Sunday.”

“I looked on the Monster board and I’ll post my resume once we finish it.”

“I’m going to put on my best interview clothes and drop hard copy resumes off at a businesses around town”

“My mom has a friend who knows someone.”

“I’ll find a recruiter. Once they see my skills, they’ll find me a job.”

“I’ve not looked in more than 10 years. This is all new to me.”

“I need a generic resume. I can do anything. Employers like that right?”

“I’m not good with computers.”

So, how are you going about your search?

Do you anxiously await delivery each Sunday for the paper? That’s maybe 9% of the job market. You’re leaving 91% of the market untapped.

Are you posting and looking only on The Monster and big boards? Depending on the board, posting and hoping yields about a 2% return rate. (Sorry gang. It takes effort). Do you know about places like www.linkup.com, a unique job search engine that only lists jobs taken directly from company websites? Have you discovered some of the niche sites out there focusing on specific industries?

Are you visiting in person? I don’t know about you, but I find it presumptive to think, in times of reduced staff and more work done by fewer people, someone is sitting there with nothing better to do than wait for you to arrive, hand them your resume and discuss your wants and needs. But then I don’t cherish drop in company either. (There might be a bit of personal bias there. <smile>)

Networking is the best way to land a position, but having one person who is a friend of a friend is not a network or a job search strategy. Building an effective network takes time. Don’t panic. It’s never too late to start.

Think a recruiter will help? Recruiters find people for jobs. They do not find jobs for people. BIG difference. If you’re not a fit or you can’t sell your value, forget it, they’re on to the next candidate. Gayle Howard, also a career collective blogger, did an excellent break down of working with recruiters here.

Not looked in 10 years? Then you’ve got some catching up to do. It’s a whole new world our there. Make Google your friend and learn. There’s a wealth of information out there. There’s also garbage. Read with a critical eye and use what makes sense to you. If you’re not a sandwich board kind of guy, don’t force it, but bring your skills up to date. Laurent Brouat shares some great ideas in his post about looking where others aren’t. Capitalize on social media. You never know who you’ll touch. But, I assure you, you won’t touch anyone if you’re wringing your hands and sputtering, “I don’t know how” while making excuses about your privacy. This is a  21st century job search. Deal with it.

(Quick story: I landed a resume client because, after some difficulty with a local optometrist, they told to take my business elsewhere. I tweeted this on Twitter: “My life is now complete. I’ve been fired from a job, a marriage and now as a customer.” This simple 140(ish)-character post resonated with a woman in California. She not only became a client; she referred me to her neighbor who also became my client. And, most recently, I met someone, also via social media, who might be able to use the CA client’s expertise. I will refer her. If I wasn’t interacting through social media, none of these connections would have happened. Engage. Step outside your comfort zone and use social media to build your hand-dropped, custom brand. Amazing things happen when you stretch and make yourself a little different from the rest of the crowd.)

“I just need a generic resume. I’ll do anything” is NOT a job search strategy. Employers have neither the time nor the volition to figure out where you fit in to their organization. Tell them boldly and proudly what you bring to the party or they’ll go looking for the next person that does. Research. Know what your buyer is buying and sell your skills. No one cares about what you have done until you put it in the context of how, what you have done will benefit them. You don’t see Ford Motor Company advertising Mustangs to 80-year-old grandmothers do you? They know their target audience is usually young. They’ve built a successful advertising campaign around knowing their demographic. That’s not to say grandma won’t be rockin’ down the highway in a Mustang convertible with tunes blasting, but that’s the exception, not the rule. I wont’ say landing a job with a generic resume and an “I’ll do anything” approach won’t happen. I will say, like grandma, that’s the exception, not the rule.

“I’m not good with computers.” It’s 2009. Computers are a part of just about every job. Get over yourself and take a class.

(Another story – yes, it’s from Twitter. I follow a 95-year-old man on Twitter, @marcelmurrell. He is quick-witted and hilarious. He has a Facebook account and is even funnier there because he gets more than 140-character to demonstrate his humor and wit. He posts links to YouTube. He edits pictures on his Mac and uploads them to Facebook. He retweets and interacts on Twitter like a champ. He’s 95! He’s been around longer than color TVs for heaven’s sake and he gets it. Stop saying you’re not good with computers and you’re can’t learn. You need that skill. If Marcel can do it, I dare say, you can too.)

A successful job search requires creativity, strategy, a willingness to research and learn new skills, tenacity and above all, a positive attitude. Get out of your own way. There are a bazillion resources out there. Find the mix that works for you. Customize your search. Don’t stamp it out using the same cookie-cutter everyone else is using. Differentiate yourself from the very beginning or you’ll look like the rest of the cookies on the plate. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather have the biggest and best cookie from the batch, hand-dropped, full of chocolate chips, slightly misshapen, perhaps, but a standout from the rest, touting its tasty pleasures over the perfectly shaped, look-alike cookies on the plate. Hand-drop your search and amazing things will happen.

Oh, and don’t forget your thank yous. Gratitude is power.

Here’s what my colleagues have to say about this topic:

Jacqui Barrett-Poindexter of Career Trend Eating bananas doesn’t make you an ape

Laurie Berenson of Sterling Career Concepts Job seekers: Break out of the mold

Chandlee Bryan of The Emerging Professional On the cookie-cutter approach to the job search: Do you need a recipe?

Megan Fitzgerald of Career by Choice Ongoing career management is no longer optional for the expat in today’s new world of work

Katharine Hansen of Quintessential Careers Avoiding Being a Cookie-Cutter Job-seeker In Your Resume and Throughout Your Job Search

Gayle Howard of Top Margin Sabotaging your prospects: cookie-cutter style

Heather R. Huhman of HeatherHuhman.com Break the mold: Don’t be a cookie-cutter

Rosalind Joffe of Working With Chronic Illness.com Forget the cookies! Start with vision

Grace Kutney of Sweet Careers Passive job seeker = cookie cutter job seeker

Hannah Morgan of Career Sherpa Are you a cookie-cutter job seeker?

Heather Mundell of Dream Big Coaching Services How not to be a cookie-cutter job seeker

J. T. O’Donnell of Careerealism Cookie-cutters are for baking…not job searching

Barbara Safani of CareerSolvers Cookie-cutter resumes can leave a bad taste in the hiring manager’s mouth

Miriam Salpeter of Keppie Careers Conscious awareness and your job hunt and How can a job seeker stand out?

Rosa Vargas of Creating Prints Being a cookie-cutter jobseeker is a misfortune

Job search tenacity through a blind dog’s eyes.

Bart wandered in our lives on a Saturday night. Strangely enough, he appeared on the eve of the day we said good-bye to Sadie. It was almost as if he knew there’d be an opening for a dog at our house and he was Johnny-on-the-spot ready to fill it. We had and now, thanks to Bart, still have six dogs …

At first glance, I thought he was a young dog. Always smiling, tail wagging, full of energy and happy, incredibly, smile-inspiring happy. A good friend and veterinarian was kind enough to make a house call and help us with Sadie. When he finished he gave Bart the once over. Turns out Bart is an old dog. His front teeth are worn to nubs. He coughs like an old man who smoked three packs of Camel no-filter cigarettes, every day of his life since birth. He’s blind in his left eye and has very limited, if any, vision in his right eye. His previous owners “lost” him. And now he’s joined a family of five other dogs – all female and one of them a brat. You’d think he’d be crabby. In human terms, he has valid reasons for a dour disposition right? But, did I mention he’s always happy?

Watching Bart stumble around the house the past six months has made me think of how his new life parallels a job search. He’s in uncharted territory; someplace he’s never been before. I’m sure he bumped around in the area surrounding our house until he found his way up our driveway. Almost like a job seeker looking for the next opportunity. We don’t train to be unemployed. It’s not something studied, but suddenly, there you are stumbling around in a place you’ve never been, frightened at what’s around the next corner and not sure exactly where you’ll end up. The security and comfort of life as you knew it, gone. Did Bart get frustrated in his search? I can’t answer that, but can assume he probably did, plowing through dense woods and rough terrain, tripping and falling. But he didn’t stop until he found the right driveway. Ours. Not bad for an old, coughing, blind dog lost in the middle of nowhere. He stuck with it and forged on. I’m sure his happy outlook got him through many briars.

Living with an active blind dog is interesting. I’ve learned many lessons watching his approach to things. He plows through the house, running headlong into things, hitting with such a thud I wince. Does it stop him? Nope. He backs up, shakes it off and changes his course just a bit. Almost as if to say, hmmmm, that didn’t work, let’s try this. Sound like a job search? This isn’t working, let’s tweak the strategy a bit and get back out there.

Lucy, my brat dog, is frequently annoyed with him bumping into to her. She growls and postures and sometimes pushes back to let him know her boundaries. Bart takes it with a grain of salt. She gets crabby; he backs up and goes a different way or waits his turn. Every now and again he pushes back. He goes with the flow, demonstrates patience when required, yet fights for himself when necessary. Sound like a job search strategy?

Bart has a deep, menacing bark, one that hangs in the air and resonates for a moment before it fades. If he’s outside and you ride past my house, I know it. He barks at anything that goes up or down “his road”. And if you dare pull in his driveway, he leaps to his feet and barks fiercely – usually facing the wrong direction – but no less convicted in his approach and belief he is protecting his people. Sounds like he’s pretty sure of his ability to protect (his skill set) and is not afraid to bark it from the mountaintops. Isn’t that how a job search ends in success, confidence in skills and a bold demonstration of said skill set?

Because he’s the only dog I haven’t trained to the Invisible Fence, up until recently, he stayed inside when no one was home. That is until he discovered we keep the dog food in the pantry. The pantry has a sliding latch that had been successful in keeping all of the dogs out, until Bart. He figured out how to push on the doors in a certain way, rendering the latch ineffective. OK. He beat the latch. Next we put a folding table in front of the doors. When we came home, he’d knocked that out of the way, and got into the food. Then we put a heavy, four-case stack of bottled tea in front of the doors. You guessed it. Pushed aside. The next time we left, we enlisted the aid of Heidi, our ferret, and put her six-foot tall cage, squarely in front of both doors. She enjoyed the ride around the kitchen and Bart enjoyed a snack once he’d moved her cage out of the way. Harrumph. What to do now? I took a six-foot leash and tied the door handles together. Hubby came home and found one of the louvered doors completely off the track, laying in the floor … and a smiling, full Bart. He now stays in the pen outside when we leave. Although, we discovered he likes to dig, not sure how long that will hold him. Oh to have that level of commitment, tenacity and focus about getting what we want in a job search or life in general for that matter.

So what job search lessons does Bart teach, just by being Bart? A happy disposition and a desire to get along will endear you to those around you. Had he been a grumpy, crabby dog, who picked fights with everyone and chased the cats I would have made a different decision about keeping him. He was in the right place at the right time because he kept trying. I’m sure he’d been up and down the road for a while. He was mighty hungry when he got here, but he kept trying until he found a welcoming home. He doesn’t let blindness, lack of teeth or a debilitating cough stop him. He backs up, changes his path, stops to hack a moment and keeps on moving. He may be an old boy, but gives off a youthful air and approaches things with a joie de vie I can only hope to duplicate. Overall, after getting to know Bart, I’ve decided we could all use a little more Bart-itude in our lives.

PS – For those concerned about Bart’s cough, it’s a sure sign his previous owners didn’t have him on heartworm prevention. The vet said, with the way he coughs and his age, he probably wouldn’t survive the treatment. He’ll live out his days here, giving and receiving unconditional love until he draws his last breath. He’s where he’s supposed to be.

Seven observations from my day at the job fair

Today, I’m sharing some observations and insights gained while volunteering to do resume reviews at a local mall for a job fair. To say I’m disgusted by what I saw is an understatement. And I’m not talking about the resumes. I’m used to seeing boring career autobiographies, all out career confessionals and self-centered, “this is what I want” documents. That’s not what bothered me. That can easily be fixed. That’s what I do. What got to me was the sheer laziness of the job seekers I met. I am appalled and want to use them as a good lesson in how NOT to approach a job fair, or a job search for that matter.

I understand, from here on, I am generalizing. I also get there are people who understand a job search requires effort and time and energy and follow-up and more effort and some research and more follow-up and even more effort. I’m not talking to them. Those enlightened, focused searchers can stop reading now or pass the link along to a friend who isn’t quite up to speed on the fact that jobs don’t magically appear and the world doesn’t owe them a living.

Now, on to things I learned at the job fair:

1. Show up when offered an opportunity to network with business owners, employers and career people. In 4 hours, I spoke with only 12 people. (I kept a tally to measure efficacy of the event versus my time to participate.) Every exhibitor there commented on the lack of traffic and the lack of participation by local job seekers. If I were not an eternal optimist, I would have packed up after the first hour. I believed things would pick up. They didn’t. And the event was well publicized.

2. Dress the part. Do you know how many flip-flops, t-shirts (with questionable logos), ripped jeans and halter-tops (on women who had NO business in halter-tops) I saw? People, if you want a job, look the part. Slovenly is NOT business casual. If you don’t care enough to look your best, how are you going to convince a potential employer you care enough to do a good job for them?

3. Be able to articulate what you do and what you seek. I sat next to a woman who was recruiting for a local power company. She politely asked everyone what s/he did; what type of position s/he sought. One guy said, “I want a job in business”? What the ____ does that mean????? Prepare a 30-second elevator speech to sell your skills immediately. Don’t know what an elevator speech is? Google it. There’s plenty of info out there; even some YouTube videos to help you boil down skills and express the value you bring to an employer in 30-seconds. By the way, “I’ll do anything” (another frequent refrain) is NOT a job search strategy and makes you appear weak and desperate.

4. Leave your bad attitude at home. One attendee stormed over the power company booth and demanded to know why the booth, two spaces down, was unmanned. “I filled out this application and now I don’t know what to do with it.” To Yolanda’s, the power company rep, credit, she got up, went to the other booth and tried to show the woman what she needed to do and help her figure out where to turn in the application.

True the booth sponsors should have been there or left better instructions, but Earth is a tough town and sometimes the difficulty in the application process is part of the screening. If you can’t figure out how to handle something that is going to benefit you on your own, how effective are you going to be when it comes to problem solving for a potential employer?

Anyway, this woman became more and more agitated. Finally, rather than breathe any more of this Negative Nellie’s venom, Yolanda agreed to take the application and turn it in for her. Yolanda then spent 15 minutes walking to and from the mall office to turn in the application. Frankly, she was much kinder than I would have been. I probably would have trashed the application. (Not really, but I would have thought about it really hard and at least editorialized when I did turn it in ….) NO employer deserves to be subjected to that “the world owes me” attitude. Here’s someone trying to her best help and all this attendee can do is spit venom and whine about how inconvenient things are for her. Later!

5. If you’re going to a job fair, bring your resume. Pretty obvious, but I overhead, several attendees say, “No I didn’t bring my resume with me today.” Hello. You’re attending a job fair and you left your resume at home??? I have no words.

6. When offered free job search advice jump on it. I have an interview prep package I provide all my resume clients as a thank-you for doing business with me. It’s also available on my Web site for the nominal fee of $20 for non-clients. Part of my giving back to the community was to give anyone that spoke with me that interview prep package for free – FREE. I started out making an email sign-up sheet, but decided I was taking already a day out of my work week to help and really didn’t want to end up with a typing project when I got home after volunteering. (I was anticipating a lot more traffic than materialized.)

What I did instead was hand every person a business card, told them to send me an email requesting the interview prep info, letting me know they’d met me at the expo – didn’t have to be pretty, didn’t have to be properly punctuated. I wanted them to take some initiative and save me having to type in their email address. After all, I’m giving them something for nothing. The only requirement was to go home and send a simple email. Did anyone, ANYONE do it??? You guessed it. Not one unemployed, job-seeking soul took the initiative to send that simple email and request a valuable package of interview information. (And I waited six days before I proclaimed no one took the initiative.) Guess they’re too busy lamenting the sad state of affairs to actually put fingers to keyboards and do something about it.

7. Say thank-you. Not as proof that you’re polite, but as a way to network and reinforce and resell your value. Of the 12 resume reviews I did, not one person sent a follow-up email. Remember, I gave them a business card with my name and email address. If no one emailed me, it’s a safe assumption no one took the time to a send thank-you to the people who interviewed them or provided information about open positions either.

In not following up, they missed an opportunity to grow their network and have an extra set of eyes out there helping them find gainful employment. I may appear to be out of the loop because I work out of a home office, but I talk with people around town and across the country every day, via telephone and various social media outlets. Frequently, I’ll have worked with a client, hear about a job that fits their skill set and send them the lead. I won’t recommend people I’ve not actually worked with outside resume creation, but I will share job leads when I get them. None of those 12 unemployed, people I spoke with will ever have the benefit of that resource because none of them made the effort to follow-up or expand their network.

To say I am disappointed by what I saw at this particular event is an understatement. Now, when I read unemployment figures are at 9.1% (or whatever it is for this week), I not only mentally correct the perspective – 9.1% unemployment is 90.9% EMPLOYMENT – I silently add … “and probably a good portion of that unemployed figure stems for the ridiculous lack of initiative I witnessed on June 25^th”. What a sad testament to the American spirit. The America I know pulls itself up by the bootstraps and makes things happen. The America I saw on the 25^th saddens me.

Would I participate in this event again? Probably. It’s that indomitable Pollyanna perspective I possess. I do truly want to help others, so yes, I’d put myself through this again. Besides, sometimes, bad things are good examples of how not to be and I can share that experience with my readers. This was one of those bad things/good examples times.

For now, thanks for letting me vent.

Do as I say, not as I do.

When I first took a teleseminar on blogging, one thing the instructor said was if you disappear from your blog for a while, don’t call attention to it. Start again like you posted yesterday. Sooooo, here I am calling attention to the fact it’s almost been two months since I’ve pontificated … to help make a point for job seekers.

What got me back on track was a simple tweet sent by my Twitter friend, @jlipschultz this week. He politely asked wasn’t it time I posted something (@jlipschultz is Jeff Lipschultz – you’ll find his blog link on my blog roll.) I thanked him “sarcastically” for the thunk on the side of the head, but it worked. A support team (I didn’t even know I had) helped get me back on the blogging track. OK, so what does that have to do with a job search?

Sometimes, after spending all day at the computer writing resumes, responding to email and tweeting, in between morning and evening pet sit rounds (my other business), I’m just not up to blogging too. That’s fine. When I started this, I knew I’d not be an every day blogger. I knew I’d have to grow into that level of commitment. I started blogging because I wanted a place to point clients for help with their job search. Rather than give out all the great links in my blogroll to every caller or explain the same concepts over and over again, verbally or via email, I started a blog. Now I have somewhere to send clients in support of their search and am able to give them detailed responses to frequently asked questions through my writing – saving them and me time. Added bonus, I’ve given them clickable links to some of the best information on the Internet from the top people in the career industry. So … what DOES all this have to do this with a job search?

I understand the “I can’t do another thing today feeling”. And I battle procrastination – fiercely some days – too. Taking this (finally) to the job search side, I get how you can feel like “if I have to respond to one more Monster board alert or read one more article about how to find a job my head is going to explode”. I empathize with the need to take a break. But don’t do as I did and let that “break” turn into a two month sabbatical. It’s so easy to look at your to- do list and move the more difficult, thinking-required tasks to tomorrow and jump on the easier, fun things. That’s OK in moderation. Be easy with yourself. But don’t cut yourself so much slack that tomorrow never comes.

Face it, if you’re on day one of a six-month severance package, just started collecting unemployment insurance or have “plenty of resources to help you ride the wave” putting something off one day really isn’t that big of a deal. Or is it? A day here and there to exhale and focus on something other than your search is healthy. Moving that “develop targeted searches-research companies, markets and salaries-practice negotiation skills-network-volunteer as a part of networking-scour niche job boards-respond to specific postings-take classes to gain new skills-harness the power of Web 2.0 social media” item on your to do list can quickly go from only a day’s delay, to a week to a month, to (for goodness sake) two months, in the blink of an eye.

Something else I learned in this little procrastination adventure is the importance of support. In this life, you really don’t have to go it alone. People are more than willing to help. (Sometime you don’t even have to ask.) Make yourself accountable to someone. Ask a friend to be your search buddy and check on your progress as you wade through the quagmire that is the search process. Make it an upbeat, positive friend who won’t cut you any slack and won’t let you wallow too long. Let them know your boundaries and your goals. Know there’s someone there watching your progress, pulling for you to succeed and helping you get back on track when you stumble.

Now that I know Jeff is paying attention, I’m committed to being a more frequent blogger again. I may even walk on the wild side and add blog posting to my schedule. Regardless. Jeff’s 140-character nudge through the Twitterverse did wonders to help me. Imagine what a good friend or two checking on your search progress will do for you.

Stay focused. Plan. Enlist the help of friend. I did not do any of these and look what happened … This is truly a case of do as I say, not as I do. (Up side: I got a blog post out of procrastinating a blog post. How cool is that?!)

PS – Lest you think I’ve been loafing, I’ve been very active on Twitter, participating in lots of career initiatives to put America back to work and help job seekers succeed. And I’ve been raising four orphaned baby opossums. (Yes, you read that right. I’ve got possums.) My next blog post will cover all the places other career professionals and I are posting information and for fun, I’ll throw in the possum story. I assure you, and Jeff, that will happen soon.

Thanks Jeff!

Working with Recruiters

If you’re a frequent visitor to this blog, you already know I’m an avid Twitter user. I view my Tweeps as important assets in my life and love the wealth of knowledge – interesting, unusual, helpful and odd – shared daily.

Wednesday, Jeff Lipschutlz, founding partner of A-List Solutions, a recruiting firm, and fellow Twitterer suggested I comment on his most recent blog post, “Recruiting your recruiter in the job search”. I followed the link to a very informative article on proper expectations and considerations when working with recruiters. Having been a professional recruiter, I could not have done a better job of putting together a guideline for how to work with one than Jeff did. Sooooo, today I’m sending you to his blog to read:

“Recruiting Your Recruiter in the Job Search”

Make sure you read through all the comments (mine is #16). There’s wonderful information added by other career professional. All in all, Jeff and his commenters created a one-stop guide for what to expect when working with “headhunters.”

And if that’s not enough, Jeff did a follow up post today: “Recruiting Your Recruiter in the Job Search, Part II”

Jeff summarized the comments from the first post (including mine) and added more info. Then, frosting on the cake of this information, he combined both posts into one for his A-List Solutions Web site (gotta love an engineer).

If you’re job searching or thinking about job searching, this is a MUST READ!

Thanks Jeff! For the great information and the opportunity to contribute.

Seth Godin: “Don’t Try to Get a Job???” I couldn’t agree more!

In the last of a month-long series of guest posts (including mine) on G. L. Hoffman’s What Would Dad Say? blog, Seth Godin closes out the month with some RADICAL job search advice: “Don’t Try to Get a Job.” Run over there, check it out (GREAT READ!!), then come back and find out why this resume writer whole-heartedly agrees.

You’re back? Good. Here’s my story …

In 2000, I left a “safe, secure” corporate position to try my hand at recruiting. By June of 2002, I realized professional recruiting was going to be the first “major failure” I’d experience in a career spanning more than two-and a-half-decades.

Well. Let’s see. I left a good job, with a large company and a good salary for the potential to make big money recruiting and found out I didn’t have what it took to ride the roller coaster of the hiring / recruiting process. I was too attached to my clients, spent too much time coaching and spiffing up rezs and not enough time doing the work of recruiting. Anyway …

Bewildered, and always an animal lover, I took a part-time office management position in a local veterinary hospital for … I won’t even tell you the hourly wage … so I could sort out what to do with me, and my career. Well, answering that vet’s office phone day in and day out, giving out phone numbers for kennels and knowing most rural clients had more than one animal – yard dogs, barn cats, pot-bellied pigs, chickens, etc. – sparked an idea. One client led to another and my pet sitting business quickly grew: “Snug as a Bug – In-home pet sitting services”. (The “Start a dog poop shoveling business” line caught my eye in the Godin article.)

Shortly after I stopped recruiting, the idea to use resume writing skills, to make some extra money also surfaced. “The Write Solution” started with the referral of a friend of a friend. I continued working the part-time position (chicken entrepreneur) while I grew both businesses and earned my Certified Professional Resume Writer credential. In June of 2007, I quit the part-time job, taking both my pet sitting and resume writing businesses full time.

Today, I have more than 40 core pet sitting clients calling on me regularly to care for their animals and check on their homes while they’re away. In between pet sit rounds, I write a resume for someone almost every day. Hardly a week goes by when I don’t get a referral or hear back from former rez clients. Last year, my first full calendar year running two full-time businesses, I surpassed what I earned when I left my customer service manager position in corporate America.

Was it/is it easy? No. Do I work entirely too many hours? Yes. Can I take a nap in the afternoon? Not often enough. Did I wrestle, at the beginning, with losing a corporate identity and the part of my self-worth that came from my job title? Abso-freakin’-lutely. Would I change my decision to NOT to go back to the corporate world? Never in a hundred-ba-jillion-million years.

Mr. Godin is right about the opportunities out there. Shut your mouth. Stop whining about … well, everything. Stop expecting someone else to do it for you and open your eyes. Know what you’ll see? Opportunity a-plenty. It may not be in a cushy, corner office and you many not need a three-piece suit, but the money you earn will be by you, for you.

Absolutely, don’t get a job. If you’ve got the guts and the willingness to explore a whole different side of you, go for it. My mantra: “Leap and the net will appear.”