Need a Job? Put a Gun to Your Head
A legendary marketing genius once said that, if he had to write a killer sales letter, he would imagine he had a gun pointed at his head and that he would be shot if his advertising didn't deliver. This motivated him to create some of the world's most-profitable ads. Example: one of his sales letters was mailed more than 300 million times in the 1970s and produced up to $300,000 a day in sales. Not bad. So I got to thinking, if I had a gun to MY head and had to get a job fast, or risk execution, what would I do? I quickly came up with a list of three things ... 1) Meet more hiring authorities. It's been said by at least one employment expert (OK, me) that nobody in human history was ever hired by a computer. Sure, you can use a computer to find job openings, and employers can use computers to find you. But ultimately, you'll have to go belly-to-belly with a live human to get a job offer. So why not stack the odds in your favor and start meeting more people who can hire you, starting today? It boggles my mind to see how many folks can find 20-30 hours a week to answer Internet job postings, yet can't find another two hours to meet with networking contacts over coffee. I think it's a fear of rejection -- or plain old sloth -- that keeps most job seekers chained to their keyboards, furiously firing off electronic resumes, when they could be pressing the flesh and building their network until they meet a hiring manager with a job offer. Whatever the reason, if I had a gun to MY head, I'd spend about an hour a day on the computer and the remaining 7 hours calling, talking to and meeting people. Because they're the ones who can hire you. 2) Do only what works. Dump the rest. Last week I got an email from an irate New York man who's been unemployed for nearly a year. He wrote: "I've sent out 430 resumes and received only one interview since last September!" To which I could have replied, "Why did you wait nearly one year and 430 resumes to bring this to my attention?" Doing anything more than 400 times and expecting your results to suddenly improve qualifies, I think, as mild insanity. It's what can happen when you lose sight of what you're really trying to accomplish in your job search. Do you want to send out as many resumes as possible, or do you want to get hired as quickly as possible? If the latter is your goal, then it behooves you to analyze what you're doing at least once a week. Have an actual meeting with yourself. Sit down with a pad of paper and ask yourself these three questions: 1) What am I doing that's producing job leads? Do more of that. 2) What am I doing that's NOT producing leads? Change it or stop doing it. 3) What am I going to do next? Plan your week so you can do more of what's working. Note: when you analyze what you're doing, assume nothing and look at EVERYTHING: your resume, cover letters, how you answer the phone, your voicemail message, how you follow up with employers, etc. 3) Ace the interview. There's absolutely no excuse for writing the perfect resume, applying for the perfect job, getting called for the interview ... and then blowing it by showing up unprepared. Two points here. First, you should never, ever have trouble answering common interview questions like, "Why did you leave your last job?" or "How much salary are you looking for?" The answers are out there. Try this web site for a start - interview.monster.com. Also, it takes all of five minutes to visit Amazon.com and check out the reader feedback on top-selling interview books. If a book has multiple four- and five-star reviews, buy it or check it out of your local library. Cost to you: a few minutes and a few bucks (no charge if you use the library). Potential payback: thousands of dollars in new salary. Second, you should never, ever walk into an interview not knowing the company, its products, its problems, its opportunities and its competitors. Again, the answers are out there. Use Google or your favorite search engine and spend an hour digging up enough facts to help you talk intelligently to your potential employer. Failure to do so will mark you as a half-hearted candidate ... and you will lose out to other, better-prepared job seekers. Every time. So there you have it. Three things I would do to get hired if I had a gun to my head. I hope your situation is never so desperate. But imaging a worst-case scenario like imminent execution can concentrate the mind wonderfully -- and turbo-charge your job search. Now, go out and make your own luck! Kevin Donlin is President of Guaranteed Resumes. Since 1996, he and his team have provided resumes, cover letters and online job-search assistance to clients in all 50 states and 23 countries. Kevin has been interviewed by USA Today, CBS MarketWatch, The Wall Street Journal's National Business Employment Weekly, CBS Radio, and many others. As a reader of this publication, you're eligible for a special offer. Get your Free Job Search Kit ($25.00 value) at the Guaranteed Resumes Web site - http://www.gresumes.com
MORE RESOURCES:
careers & employment - Google News |
 |
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
From Cleaning Lady to Entrepreneur: How Your Cleaning Business can Benefit from the Images Many people never consider entering the cleaning business because of the images it has."Be a janitor (or cleaning lady or maid)? Me? That's too demeaning!" is a common reaction. Write Resume Keywords That Gets Your Application Read As children we often used to read stories where magical words can open caves filled with treasures or magicians using words like abracadabra.. The Perfect Resume The perfect resume presents hiring managers with a four-fold vision of who you are and what you bring to the table: The perfect resume offers Logical Proofs: Facts Quantifiable data Logical conclusions Achievement and success statements Relevant professional goals/accomplishments Limits the use of jargon Maximizes use of occupation/industry-specific key words Your capabilities and skills Clear, specific, measurable, and quantifiable words and phrases Sells you based on your achievements to date The perfect resume offers Your Vision & Creativity: Balanced white space Visually easy to read A resume style and paper consistent with your self-marketing vision Clear big picture of who you are Sells you based on your potential Examples of your creativity relating to your targeted position Your vision of your role and your capacity to contribute The perfect resume offers Sensible Organization: Easy-to-follow resume structure Presents relevant historical information in reverse chronological order Places the most relevant/marketable data early in the resume Omits what cannot be proved Is error-free Is neatly laid-out and word processed Stretches to the appropriate length for someone of your experience (one page for up to 10 years of experience; 2 pages for up to 15 years of experience, and 3 pages for senior-level positions demanding over 15 years of experience) Sells your past The perfect resume offers Your Personality and Values: Stresses your interpersonal/written communication skills Describes your teamwork skills and cites examples of your cross-functionality Highlights your work-related values Showcases your work-related personality Previews who you are Emphasizes your uniqueness Is enjoyable to read Sells who you are Why not review your resume by comparing it with these four critical categories? You may discover why your resume isn't winning you the interview response you'd hoped for with hiring managers.Cheryl Lynch Simpson is a Spiritual Director and Solutions Coach who helps women discover and create the life they've always wanted to live. Building Performance Trust You can have outstanding ideas, yet never leverage them into winning at working results. That's because the secret behind those ideas lies in performance. What is Contract Programming? An Alternative to the Conformity of Everyday Employment What is contract programming, you ask? Well, when companies need specific computer programming expertise, for temporary periods of time, they generally hire a contract programmer or an employee of a consulting firm. Contractors almost always have a higher hourly wage than a salaried employee and are often paid for overtime. Genes and Work Ethic If you have good genes, you are blessed. If they are exceptional, you might be successful on that alone. Career Change: A Glittering Invitation To The Emotional Stalkers As much as you are yearning for career-change, and as much as the trends actually favor it, just contemplating a shift is a glittering invitation to four emotional stalkers who love nothing better than to play a nasty game of team-tag at your personal expense. When you unmask these bandits -- even a little -- they begin to lose their emotional charge - leaving you free to more fully explore the opportunities to re-invent yourself. Consultants - If We Cant Laugh At Ourselves? There are hundreds of varieties of Consultants these days. We can find Consultants to take care of our diets, our physical well being, our mental well being, and pretty much anything you can imagine when it comes to business. Ten Questions For Entrepreneurs To Ask Themselves Ten Questions For Entrepreneurs To Ask Themselves1.Do I have the persistence and patience necessary to be a business owner?It would be nice if once you wrote your business plan all you needed to do would be to execute flawlessly and everything would fall into place. Recruiting on the Web Requires Special Record Keeping for Legal Purposes by Lesli Peterson, Business Analyst, VCGwith Phil McCutchen, Marketing Manager, VCG With the age of the Internet upon us, recruiting methods have expanded dramatically. Staffing companies now regularly use the Web to locate qualified candidates for their open positions. 21st Century Career Success When it comes to modern career development, one thing we can all count on is change. With the advent of technology, telecommuting, and E-commerce, how work is performed is in a state of reinvention. Job Search 101 The whole job search effort is completely exhausting and at times just plain pathetic. It is what it is and if you are unemployed know that the job search experience is one familiar to everyone at some point and time, so don't feel alone. The Big Mo : Momentum and the Hiring Process Momentum as defined by Webster's is: strength or force gained by motion or through the development of events. For our purposes, the interview process is a "development of events". Work Is A Four-Letter Word I can hear the jokes already and most of them are not politically correct. Let me throw out a word that we often don't attach to work and yet I think it is a word of redemption, of contribution, of achievement, of community, and ultimately, of legacy. Prepare for YOUR Future now -- All Presidential candidates (before and after) make all kinds of promises about YOUR 'social security' when running for the top job. Regardless of the promises, YOU are the one who has to live or die by the future plans made on your behalf. Successful Job Seeking - The Importance of Your Cover Letter As an employer I receive many job applications each week. Some cover letters are so well written that I am compelled to review the attached resume even if our company is not currently hiring. Alert! An Over-50 Jobseeker Has Just Entered the Building Interviewing Tips for the Older Job-seeking PopulationA red alert is probably melodramatic, but I'm sure jobseekers in this age bracket probably feel there is one. The bulk of the job-seeking population is currently facing job-search woes that the elderly population has been experiencing for years. How To Tap Into the Invisible Job Market Is there a company in your area that you'd love to work for? Do you assume that, because you don't see them advertising in the classifieds or posting jobs on their website, they have no openings? That may or may not be the case. That truth is, only about one-fifth of job openings are actually advertised!Here's how to tap into the huge "invisible" job market. How to Use Flow In The Job Search What is "flow"? Flow as described by thepsychology professor and educator,Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, is a state of being andbehavior. The behavior is one of complete absorption in a task. Salary, Raises, & Perks: Negotiate to Get Paid What Youre Worth! Salary negotiation requires preparation and good timing. It's important to determine your salary needs and research the market value for the job you want.
|
|
home | site map
MaineBannerExchange |
| © 2006 Careers & Employment |