Guerrilla Job Hunting

10 Common Scams Every Job Seeker Should Know | Career Overview

In a tough job market, it's easy to get desperate. But don't get so hard up that you forget to pay attention to what you're doing. If you're not careful, you could end up falling prey to one of these job search scams. Read on to learn about how these scams work, and how you can avoid them.

via www.careeroverview.com

The job market is challenging enough without scammers looking for ways to take advantage of you. Here's a great article on what to watch out for by Career Overview.

Job Search Advice:Take risks

The dramatic changes we've seen in the job market in the last four years highlight the reality that the tried-and-true methods of finding a job will no longer suffice. They should remain a solid part of your plan, but they don’t provide an adequate amount of exposure to potential employers - let alone attract them to you.

Standing out is the key

Most people’s job searches fail because they can't get on the radar of the right hiring manager.  They're simply left behind because they failed to get noticed - even though they where well qualified - perhaps even the best qualified. 

And I'm here to ask you to please press on! Do not keep banging your head against the same wall.  Try something new - even if it's only a different wall. Do more of what works and less of what doesn't every day, AND add new tactics as often as possible.

I often see people fail after trying something once or twice and give up.  Or fail because they ask a friend or spouse what they thought about their "crazy idea" or tactic - and they tell them it won't work - so they drop it and don't even try.  When in reality their friend had no flipping idea whether it would or not but felt compelled to answer because they were asked OR wanted to save their friend the heartache of failure.  Who needs friends like that.

Don't give up too easily.

Well, a lot of famous people have been told NO or NEVER or FORGET ABOUT IT! And they did they forgot about the bad advice and pressed on.  This video is meant to remind you of those who have gone before you and failed and failed and failed and then got what they were after. 

In today's red hot job market - getting noticed is the key to getting the interview and the interview is key to getting hired. Most job hunting books fail because they don't address the hard stuff.  They skip the part between “designing a resume” and “the face-to-face interview”.  You know the tricky setting up of the first meeting.  

Guerrilla's do it better

Well getting noticed and getting the first meeting is what guerrilla job hunters do best.  So go guerrilla.  Be outrageous.  Safe - but outrageous.  Pursue your dream job the exact same intensity you'd chase a bus if you dropped your winning lotto ticket on the floor on the way out.  Put that kind of focus and energy in to everything you do while you're job hunting AND guess what - you will be successful!

Take some risks and don't give up when you DO fail - just get over it and go again.

_______________________________________________________________

David Perry

co-author, Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters 2.0, co-founder Guerrilla Job Search International Inc. and managing partner of Perry-Martel International Inc.

 

 

Networking is about who knows you

Networking is about who knows you – so be visible and cultivate a powerful/influential  public image. Make sure your promotions and major sales wins are noted in the trade press and visible through LinkedIn and ZoomInfo.  People judge you by the company you keep … it's a fact of life, use it to your advantage - that’s especially helpful for you when it’s a high profile account potential employers may covet. 

NOTE: I wrote this post for sales people specifically BUT it really does apply to everyone.  And it's never to late nor too early to start.

Career Catalyst - The Fitness Factor Behind Success in Business and Life

It's common knowledge, but so few people act on it. Exercise sharpens the brain, reduces stress, and energizes – three of several ways physical activity can improve one's career.

Want more?

Improved sleep, improved mood, and the warding off of depression are three others. Even 10- minute walks during work breaks can have an impact, as would parking far away from the office in order to walk more. Lunch breaks are another opportunity to reap the benefits of work – why not get the exercise out of the way during your workday instead of reading an outdated magazine in the break room?

The Center for Disease Control's National Health Interview Survey reports startling statistics on just how few of us exercise, which Liz Wolgemuth addresses in U.S. News & World Report. "There are mounds of research showing the broad benefits of regular exercise, but most Americans still resist. Even last year, just over a third of men and women of working age – 25 to 64 years old – engaged in regular physical activity," she said.

For those who need a refresher on why exercise is so great, let's look at how it can improve your career through increased intellectual, mental, and psychological well-being.

• Boost Brain Power

Want to sound smarter? Exercise to boost your neuron power. Harvard psychiatry professor Dr. John Ratey, reports that physical activity boosts Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF), a chemical associated with brain growth. As explained on the American Council on Exercise (ACE) website: "Stronger, healthier, better-connected, bigger brain cells equals increased learning capacity. And here's the big discovery – exercise floods the brain with BDNF, providing the infrastructure it needs to absorb information, process, remember, and use it." According to ACE, countless studies exist on how exercise improves motor skills for physical laborers. In one instance, exercise for reforestation workers decreased work-related injuries from 22 to 5 percent, not to mention increased productivity.

Sandra Aamodt and Sam Wang, authors of Welcome to Your Brain: Why You Lose Your Car Keys but Never Forget How to Drive and Other Puzzles of Everyday Life, calls some of these brain skills that exercise can improve "executive function." In their opinion, published in the New York Times, exercise can change the structure of the brain. "How might exercise help the brain? In people, fitness training slows the age-related shrinkage of the frontal cortex, which is important for executive function," the authors wrote. "In rodents, exercise increases the number of capillaries in the brain, which should improve blood flow, and therefore the availability of energy, to neurons."

• Manage Depression and Stress

What else can exercise do for the brain? Set off pleasure signals! Don't wait for good news, a chocolate, or an antidepressant to feel good … get some happiness right now by taking a walk, Christin Anderson, MS, tells Web MD. Exercise boosts the pleasure chemicals serotonin and dopamine, credited for making us euphoric, happy, and calm. "In other words, if you don't want to wait for those good feelings to come by accident (if they do), you can bring them on by exercising," he said. "When one exercises, you can think more clearly, perform better, and your morale is better. This is pure science -- stimulate your nervous system and function at a higher level." What's even more than a career killer than just mere unhappiness? Depression. Not only can it affect the ability to even mobilize in the morning or focus, it also disables the memory. "If you can control your physiology, you can relax, focus, and remember," says Anderson.

Which brings us to stress. As the economy worsens and the job market becomes more volatile, warding off stress is more important than ever. "There may have been no year more important for Americans to be exercising than 2009, reports U.S. News & World Report, as the employed were weary with stress from being overworked and anxious, and the unemployed physically and mentally drained by fruitless job searches and foreboding headlines."

• More Sleep, More Energy

Anyone who's had a rough night of sleep knows how hard it is to function at work the day after. Those with chronic insomnia have it even worse, and the effects can be devastating. The American College of Sports Medicine suggests increased exercise can treat insomnia. While good sleepers didn't stand to change their sleeping habits, those who have sleep problems could benefit, researchers said, adding that exercise should be right up there with the other insomnia treatments available to patients. Exercising under sunlight, which promotes sleep, and resetting negative sleep patterns are a couple of ways exercise could help. "People should experiment for themselves to see whether exercise promotes better sleep," says Shawn D. Youngstedt, Ph.D., a sleep researcher. "Sleep-deprived individuals should even try experimenting with different intensities of exercise at different times of the day."

Pam Greene's own journey to health and fitness started when a friend suffered through some health challenges. Realizing this was a wake up call to her to focus on her own health, she started learning about Fitness, Nutrition and Healthy Weight Loss. Pam now works for Beachbody, which provides Home Fitness Programs and Work Out Dvds including the well known P90X exercise program. Pam is passionate about sharing tips to help others eat better and exercise for better health.

Job Search Advice: Protect Your Dreams

You want it? Then go and get it.  It sounds so trite, but I heard that expression a lot from my parents as I was growing up, so the movie, The Pursuit of Happiness, cut straight into my soul when I first saw it.  EArly o in the movie, Chris Gardner [played by will smith] tells his son

don't ever let someone tell you you can't do something.... you want something go get it... period. 

In th emovie and real life, Gardner faced seemingly insurmountable odds but stuck with it and eventually got what he was after.  Throughout the movie people and circumstances were conspiring against him left, right and centre.

Now, the big question is -  is this real life or just the ONE example where this happened to work out?

Well all I know for certain is that it certainly mirrored a lot of what I went through when I first went into the recruiting business.  I could relate to a lot of the same lessons that Chris learned.  Let me explain. 

When I first got into the recruiting business, I did so because I wanted to help people.  I was such an idealist and very naive at the time :-) I had spent the previous year [1985] helping my friends get jobs by cold-calling employers and telling them about, "this great guy who's working in my warehouse but has an MBA and really wants to..."  I was surprisingly good at it. So after reading What Color is Your Parachute by Dick Boles and designing my own workbook and get a job system - I decided I wanted to do this for a living.  I had no clue how ruthless and cold-blooded some people really are.  Nor how much sales has to do with this profession.

I approached literally every search, recruiting and placement firm in the city. i was  summarily rejected because I didn't have any direct sales experience.   Which confused me because first I thought it was all about HR not sales and I had two degrees, my commission in the armed forces, had won 28 out of 36 district sales contest, and 3 national sales contest at the the retailer where I had P&L for 5 stores and 16.5M. 

Most of the owners I approached were down right rude to me - only a couple actually laughed. 

But I did eventually get in and my training consisted of a set of Tony Bruno tapes and two big books: The Yellow Pages and The White Pages [remember them] :-)  It was a ruff, albeit typical, baptism into the business.  I worked in the back room.  Way back, behind the nice reception area and fancy interview offices, behind closed doors. It was what 'sales' guys refer to as a 'bull-pen' with banks and banks of telephones lined up along great long desks.  The environment was built for smiling and dialing and watching for slackers.. 

The company I first worked at burned through "counsellors" on a weekly basis.  We were all a 100% commission based.  To keep us motivated and 'dialing' I heard a daily dose of:

• only the tough survive
• no guts - no glory
• the cream rises to the top, and 
• put up or shut up

First lesson: pay attention to the 'words' and advice you let into your head. 

Guard against counsel that is presented as being in your best interest, because a lot of times it isn't.  Chris does a great job in this clip explaining that concept to his son.  You should listen to it and  internalize Chris's wisdom.  He got it right. And while not all 'bad advice' is malicious, often it's just plain wrong - no matter how pure the intentions of the person who's giving it to you.

Right now for example, if you're unemployed and looking for opportunities you may have been told that you'll have to settle for a less interesting or lower paying position because the market's just horrible. 

That type of feedback maybe coming from a well meaning spouse OR a friend who has a job, and has run out of helpful ideas and/or grown tired of your situation. 

Don't listen. Here's why.

First, the market is tough BUT the Bureau of Labor Statistic's  monthly “hires rate” has been a consistent 4 million plus since June of last year: http://www.bls.gov/news.release/jolts.t02.htm  That means that for the last 6 months - four million people were hired in the Untied States.  I will bet you didn’t see 4 million adds did you! No --- because that’s not how hiring is done anymore.

The way employers find and hire people today has changed dramatically. They hunt for talent themselves and they do it stealthily.  Moreover, employer's will continue to hire in stealth mode right through 2011.  So if you didn't know that then chances are your friends don't know that either.

But, the truth is, the way people get hired has changed dramatically.   Sort of like when job boards first came along and killed off the newspaper career advertising [circa 1989].  Today, newer techniques such as "Boolean search strings" that recruiters run through Google have changed how employers locate and attract talent/  Employers no longer need newspapers OR job boards by-in-large.

So contrary to popular opinion, there are plenty of jobs in America in the “hidden job market” - lot’s of them.  But hidden they will stay because employers fear been swamped and overwhelmed by desperate unqualified job hunters. 

So, the rules have changed.  In today’s tough job market and slow economy, job hunters need to get their head in the game.  You better be the sharpest razor in the box when it comes to finding a job because jobs today only go to the best ‘searchers - not the most qualified.  To get at these opportunities, you need to re-learn how to search and articulate their value to employers in concrete terms they can understand.

And above all else - you need to focus on the activities that keep you moving forward and that includes a healthy mind that looks objectively at the data and tries to find new ways to reach-out to employers and create a positive future.

Platitudes?

Hardly.  I speak from experience.  Remember that recruiting firm I started talking about at the beginning?  It got way more interesting as I got in to it... 

I got married.

My honeymoon was an adventure and lot of fun.  When I returned to the recruiting agency after my honeymoon I was horrified to discover that 3 of my deals had closed while I was on my honeymoon and I wasn't going to get paid for any of it. 

You see, my boss told me behind closed doors - right after he toasted my upcoming nuptials with the entire staff - that if any of my deals closed while I was away on my honeymoon I wouldn't get credit for them. 

So I went down the hall afterwards and asked my coworkers not to tell him if that happened. They laughed.   They said the odds of any deal closing by itself - let alone mine closing- where astronomical.  I was a rookie.  And I was cold-call shy so I didn't pound the phones like everyone else everyday looking for deals.  I had my own way.

Any way, the deals closed.  They told the boss and I was fired that same day I got back - following a rather heated debate where my boss told me,  "I'd just gotten lucky, that I sucked at being a recruiter.  Never did anything the way I was supposed to and was a bad influence on the rest of the staff." 

I was stiffed for my half of the $84,000.00.   I was on 100% commission - and in 1985, $43,000 was a lot of money.  It still is!  I didn't have enough money for a lawyer and legal aid wasn't an option because I wasn't poor enough - yet!

My friends told me to throw in the towel on this and go back to retail OR worse - banking. 

Me, I thought NO WAY!  I'm a sucker for punishment.  Ask anyone that knows me, I'm always rolling a rock up a hill.  That's Just who I am - fortunately!  I wasn't going to listen to my former boss, my friends or anyone else.  I was good at this and I was going to continue doing it.  I figured if my boss was right and I'd just gotten lucky - imagine what would happen when I finally figured out what I was doing.

The only way I could fight back was to go get another job and prove them wrong.  Which I did.  And in my first year as a recruiter I took home $9,000 on $98,000 in billings.  Rookie-of-the-year I was.  Very depressing.  Almost enough to make a grown man cry. I worked 80 hour weeks to make that 9 grand. 

My wife and I lived out in the country - in a house that was 28 x 20 with no basement.  That is small.  Very small.  So small that  I had to go outside.  That's 560 square feet - smaller than most bachelor apartments.  We had one car which my wife needed because she worked nights.  I hitchhiked to work for nearly 5 months.  It was easier in the winter because I looked desperate for a drive but not dangerous in my 3-piece suit and briefcase. 

My parents told me I was crazy and my dad kept telling me I was going to be living out of a box in no time if I kept it up.  He's a Navy man who was schooled in "tuff love".  Actually, he knew exactly how to motivate me.  My new bride was nervous but supportive.

We got through it.   The 2nd year I took home $58,000.00 on $758,000.00 in billings. Not bad for a 26 year old kid.  The following year I opened Perry-Martel International Inc.

Why am I telling you this?  Because it reminds me of Chris Gardner's journey through tough times.  It reminds me of what a lot of job hunters have been going through for the last four years, and I just wanted to remind you that it can work out if you continue to press forward.

I am not suggesting you have to live in your car or a subway bathroom like Chris.  But you may have to take on a part-time job while you're looking for that full-time career.  You may have to make a few detours.  But if you keep your goal in front of you - you can make it. 

Second lesson: if you get tired with doing what you've been doing and not getting any results, try something creative like Chris. 

[Watch the movie and you'll see more than a few creative job search tactics].  I won't tell you which ones I used to land that first recruiting gig... but it's in the movie!

Now I would like to tell you one of my favorite quotes. It's about Christopher Columbus - the guy who discovered America - and it goes like this:

If Christopher Columbus had turned back, no one would have blamed him. Of course, no one would have remembered him, either.

Columbus knew what he was doing. He had a clear vision of what awaited him and he stuck with it.

Third lesson: quiting is habit forming - fortunately so is sticking with a plan. 

Stick with your plan.  Stand your ground.  Focus and push.  Never give up.  Oh sure, you may have to go sideways occasionally but never give the goal of finding a job you absolutely love because when you do, you will never "work" another day in your life.  You will feel better about yourself too.  

And lastly - if you're feeling out of luck this week please DO remember one of my other favorite quotes - also attributed to Portuguese sailors,  

If there is no wind --- Row!

David Perry

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co-author, Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters 2.0, co-founder Guerrilla Job Search International Inc. and managing partner of Perry-Martel International Inc.

 

 

 

 

 

Commando Job Search Tactic #2: Become a Guru

Become a Guru.  Write and publish short articles and opinion pieces for your industry’s journals and web sites. 

Learn how to be an articulate spokesperson for your company [at least in your local market] and make certain journalists have your cell number and can count on you for a quick quote.  Ensure press releases from corporate carry your contact numbers for the local media. You can start locally by connecting with your local business journal: http://www.bizjournals.com/news/

Look what it did for Peter Clayton.  Of course Pete makes people into Guru's.  Maybe he should be interviewing you?

 

 

 

 

All of your efforts will get picked up by ZoomInfo... a very very good thing because ZoomInfo makes you easier to find:-)

Jim Carry demonstrating why ordinary job search coaches drive me nuts!

Few things is life bother me as much as “job search coaches”.  Don't get me wrong, I know they mean well but most are unemployed human resource professionals who are hired by outplacement firms to advise job hunters on how to follow the rules - exactly like everyone else. 

In this video clip Jim Carry demonstrates what happens when you do what everybody else is doing. 

Ordinary job search coaches are a lot like Lemmings themselves - they teach you what everyone else is doing - so you won't actually get a job any faster BUT at least you know you're doing what everyone else is.

Makes lot of sense in this market doesn't it! That model is broken. 

When you do what everyone else is doing you're one of thousands - maybe tens of thousands.  How's that working for you?  Didn't work to well for Dick and Jane.

What about doing something unique? Like maybe showing someone you're creative rather than just saying "I'm creative..." in your resume. You know, you're not really fooling anyone by doing that. Most people do that - write it in their resume that is.  And they figure that's enough.  Well, that probably explains why the average job search in America is 34.2 weeks.  That's a high price to pay for being average!

Are you tired of being average?  Want to spice your job search up just a little?  Won't work.  Using beige paper isn't enough - been done - to death.  You'll still look like everyone else.  That's so 2008. 

Want to know the secret to getting more interviews?  Maybe more than a few this week and a offers even?  Do something different with your time.  Try talking to Mark Haluska my friend --- over at... dare I say - Psycho Ape.

Now, I admit Mark is not everyone's cup of tea.  Sometimes I find him a bit "assertive" myself.  I know, he's a veteran headhunter and retired Navy Seal [though he denies that publicly] which has left him with a bit oif an 'edge'.   And he has a down home country drawl that'll drive most "easterners" crazy--- but what a track record of success.  And honestly, who better to learn from than a successful head-hunter who also coaches job hunters?  

Mark understands - what makes you stand out versus makes you look stupid. Mark knows what works and what's being done to death.  Haluska can make anyone look like a star even when they think they've done everything - followed all the rules - even figured out that there are no jobs in their city because they've sent out 1500 resumes. 

Now Mark's services aren't free --- but they're way less expensive than staying unemployed - getting no where fast.  And that's where you're going to stay unless you do something different. So is today that day? 

You decide - but do ti quickly.  Check out his web site at: http://www.psychoape.com/

Happy hunting!

David Perry, co-author Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunter, and co-director Guerrilla Job Search International Inc.

PS.  Do you know someone who did someting really creative to land an interview?  Tell me, they could be in my next book or a future article.