Guerrilla Job Hunting

Corporate Heroes - FlightNetwork.com

The recession is a Game Changer for millions of unemployed people. 

You'd have to be living under a rock not to notice the changes in the job market. 

Now finally a few corporations are coming to the rescue of job hunters.  Hat's off to FlightNetwork.com  who have been offering job hunters discounts on flights for job interviews.

Of course doing so is smart business because eventually job hunters become job holders and will remember their generosity and thoughtfulness.  

Let's hope others follow Naman Budhdeo's lead and embrace future customers in this manner.

David Perry

I'm not getting any response from recruiters after I contact them with my resume ! (Part 1)

Question:

I'm not getting any response from recruiters after I contact them with my resume. What does this mean? Should I follow up? If so, how?

Answer:

There could be a number of reasons why the recruiters are not getting back with you regarding your credentials, here are just some of them in this two part series.

• Unlike the days before this current recession when most executive recruiters were snowed under with new search assignments; in the here and now, recruiters are besieged with unsolicited resumes from hopeful job seekers. At the same time owners at many of these firms have cut back on staff due to the significant slow down in hiring by their clients. In many cases, there simply is not enough staff and as a result, time in the day to respond (via mail or by phone) to every job seekers plea for a professional attention.

• As I stated above, the number of active search assignments recruiters have on their desk has by-and-large dropped off significantly in the last year. In fact so much so, it’s driving many firms out of business. In most cases, with what assignments recruiters do have right now, there is a glut of candidates. So, before the recruiter calls you, they are combing through their data base of candidates to see if there is a fit with someone they “already know to be a proven winner.” If that does not pan out, then the recruiter usually starts looking at the unsolicited resumes to hopefully find a candidate that appears to be a potential fit for their client.

• Perhaps the recruiters you are contacting simply do not have any job orders as to where, based on your resume, there is an “exact fit.” "EXACT FIT" are the operative words here and never forget that when working with a recruiter. Therefore, some recruiters will feel there is no reason to call you at this time. Then too, many recruiters may not contact you to acknowledge your resume for that “exact fit” reason. Could one consider that rude ? I suppose so, but with staffs being cut back, there is more to do with less people to do the work so the firm is prioritizing their call back list. That list is comprised only of people who can help the firm earn a fee today !

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Due to space limitations herein I have to go for now, but be sure to join me in the next day or so for Part 2 of this answer. I hope Part 1 has been beneficial and has provided you with a little bit of insight.

For information on corporate sponsored outplacement services, career coaching, resume assistance, the Guerrilla Job Seeker10 week boot camp, or if you would prefer personal one-on-one Guerilla job search assistance, contact me at: theguerillajobcoach@comcast.net or contact my office at 724-495-2733.

Mark J. Haluska
Founder and Executive Director of
Real Time NetWork
www.rtnetwork.net

• I’m a Contributing Co-Author of the best selling book, “Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters,” 400 Unconventional Tips, Tricks and Tactics for Landing your Dream Job. Released in 2005

• I’m also a Contributing Co-Author of "Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters 2.0," 1,001 Unconventional Tips, Tricks and Tactics for Landing your Dream Job. Released in June 2009

• I'm one of only 4 certified "Guerrilla Job Search Boot Camp" Instructors in North America !

• Recommended reading for Corporate Hiring Authorities: “Executive Recruiting for Leaders,” Insider Secrets for Locating, Evaluating and Retaining Top Talent by David Perry and Mark J. Haluska

Job Hunting Is, and Isn't, What It Used to Be and it's not just in New York

Great article from ALINA TUGEND of the New York Times. The question for you my dear reader is how do your job search techniques measure up? more

The War for Talent

It's nice to have intelligent friends who can sum up an issue like this in their sleep.  You haven't been reading The CFO Coach - you should be - even if you're not a finance type.  Cindy explores in depth many of the issues most bloggers gloss over. Her War for Talent piece is short, to the point and on target. 

Career mavericks:

For me, Mark's story is an inspiration for Career Mavericks everywhere demonstrating that good guys do win.

They're loved (and hired) because they are self-starters, creative and innovative.

They're also loathed (and fired) because they get restless or don't toe the line, Kevin Marron writes.

Mark Hanley's career history reads like an episodic adventure story.

In a breathless résumé spanning 33 years, his changing interests and passions have led him to work variously as an auto mechanic, scuba diver, salesman, retailer, venture capitalist and manager in a municipal government business development agency.

It's a story that might entice a literary agent more

Why guerrilla marketing for job hunters

simply put, the dramatic changes we're witnessing in the global marketplace for talent mean that the tried-and-true methods of finding a job are no longer enough. Of course traditional networking and good old fashioned resumes should remain a solid part of your plan, but they won’t provide you with an adequate amount of exposure to all the potential employers who should know about you.  It's a fact that most people’s job searches fail or take way too long because they can't get on the radar of the right hiring manager - the one who has a job you want AND can actually hire you.  Essentially, most people fail to get noticed by the tight people.  But the fact of the matter remains clear - being noticed or "found" is the key to getting the interview and the interview is THE key to getting hired.  Most job hunting books today fail to move the job hunters quest forward because they skip the part between “designing a resume” and actually getting “the face-to-face interview”.  You know what i'm talking about -the setting up of the first meeting part!  That’s one of the areas where Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters excels.  Feel free to read through the postings on www.gm4jh.com and listen to the podcasts - you may discover a few ideas you can use in your job search today.

 

Is HR killing American business: Proof HR doesn’t get it!

I have to rant ... just a little tonight... I swear HR stands in the way of progress for America in this new millennium. Let me tell you why they continue not to get it. 

When was the last time an HR manager said to you at an interview: "Thanks for sending me your generic resume.  And your generic email instructing me to read it.  Boy I sure

Job Hunting - Considered India?

Today's guest blogger is one of the most widely read HR Gurus on the net.  Please welcome Guatam Ghosh: http://gauteg.blogspot.com

Job Hunting - Considered India?

I guess India and China are staple discussion items and are often hyphenated together. No wonder that my posts are so closely following Frank's in the Recruiting BlogSwap

Here's my submission to you:

If you are looking for a job, maybe it's time for you to consider India !

Why is that?

They Just Aren't Into You

On one of the on-line forums I frequent, a candidate asked the question “when is enough enough? He had been through a protracted interview process with one company for months and couldn’t find out if they where going to make an offer or not and was asking the group when to call it quits. My response is below.

“So when is enough enough?  96 hours.  If you haven't heard back from them within 96 hours with a complete description of the next steps... sorry to say, you're not the star candidate. 

1 phone call is all it takes to a recruiter asking where you stand.  If they don't call back assume they're tied up in a deal or dead.  All recruiters live and die on a daily basis by their production.  You're the product they have to move.  No movement = no money = no job. If a recruiter is dancing with you then you can assume you're the "B" candidate which isn't necessarily a bad thing.  Technical skills count for  a lot but no where near as much as chemistry does.  And as the world continues to shrink and companies become more competitive expect every hire to become critical.. As that happens the chemistry piece outweighs skills.  Some recruiters know this - most do not. 

How do you win?  Make it clear in the interview process that you have your own agenda and schedule to meet. In an unspoken way you need to telegraph the fact that you're in demand.  The easiest way of doing that is ask deep penetrating questions that get at the business issues of the company.  And don't wait until the end of the interview for your chance to do so.  Ask them up front and then make a decision to stay and finish the interview or go. Take control of your life and your career and you'll get the respect you want.”

Articulating your value is your key to successful job-hunting

Instead of resources or land, "capital" today means human capital. It doesn't take a shoe factory to go into the shoe business these days. Nor do you need raw materials or fleets of trucks. Nike became a shoe industry leader by concentrating on the value-producing capacity of it's employees, for design, marketing and distribution know-how. The real capital is intangible: the person's knowledge level, combined with an aptitude for application.

 
The current “jobless” recovery is a result of our economy evolving from a resources and manufacturing based economy, to a knowledge based one.

 
For most of the 20th Century, a recession was a cyclical temporary decline in demand where people were temporarily laid off, while inventory backlogs were reduced. As demand increased, workers returned to pre-existing positions or found comparable jobs with another and the economy could snap back quickly

Technology has allowed companies to establish tightly integrated demand and supply chains while outsourcing jobs to save money. Many of the jobs which have entirely disappeared from

North America have reappeared in India, China and Mexico. 

We are now witnessing the first recovery in what has become a full information  economy. Investment in new capital equipment is no longer a pendulum swinging form recession to recovery and back again firm - the result of inventory that needed to be sold off. 

Because job growth now depends on the creation of net new positions in different firms and industries, you can expect a long lag before employment rebounds. Employers incur risks in creating new jobs, and require additional time to establish and fill positions.

America's challenge is to leverage its % of the global population into a much larger percentage of intellectual capital competitiveness.  Knowledge Workers are the backbone in all sectors of the economy: most obviously in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sectors but they also embrace the other industrial sectors including healthcare, manufacturing, transportation, and the Public Service.

Labour Market Studies indicate that there is already a looming Knowledge Worker skills shortage – a shortage that impacts competitiveness and economic and social development. These shortages will not diminish soon because skilled “Baby Boomers” are retiring in unprecedented numbers while the newly created knowledge economy jobs require more education and higher skill levels.

‘The War for Talent’ today is a qualitative conflict that is best characterized as the ‘War for the Best Talent’ - a global conflict being fought amongst the G7 countries with the winner taking all.  Knowledge economy jobs are borderless - a vacancy in San Francisco may be filled by someone in China, India or elsewhere.

 

As a job-hunter, you need to comprehend that the production of value is the most important criterion for an employer when hiring. Articulating your value is your key to successful job-hunting; it sepa­rates you from all the other job-hunters. Understand, value is not salary; worth does not flow from a job title. Knowing what's impor­tant to a company means looking beyond job descriptions and cm­pensation tables, especially today when sudden changes and uncertainty are the norm. 

The New Value Table in  Guerrilla MArekting for Job Hunters  is the ideal jumpoff point for  articulating your's.

#1 Rule for Job Hunters in 2006

Be found. Sounds so simple doesn't it? But really, if a recruiter today was looking for someone with your exact skill set could they find you. Easily? You might be surprised. Why make them work harder than they already do. 

Job boards aren't a panacea for job hunters.  So what are the tricks you ask?

   

Well start where recruiters start – Google. Do you have an e-resume or homepage that details or at least hints of your business prowess? Are you on LinkedIn? Can they Zoom you at Zoominfo.com? That’s where recruiters typically begin searches. If you answered "no" to any of those questions ---- you have work to do.

   

For a primer on job hunting which compliments Jim’s book The Job Search Strategist v2.0 http://jimstroud.com/manifesto/index.html check out Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters and open a free LinkedIn account at the same time https://www.linkedin.com/static?key=gmjh_preview

  Well!!!  What are you waitng for?  Some one is looking for you right now.  Make yourself easy to Find.

It worked for Marilyn Monroe

Employers are checking you out on-line

Increasingly, what companies find about you on the Web -- good and bad -- is crucial for job hunters, KEVIN MARRON writes

By KEVIN MARRON              

Wednesday, January 25, 2006 Page

Special to The Globe and Mail

Daniel Houle had no idea that a headhunter was tracking him in cyberspace last summer.

Recruiter.com - your job search commandos

An informed buyer has real power so make it your mission this year to keep up with the fast-paced changes in the recruiting industry.  Tune into Recruiting.com for a daily dose of what's going on around the globe with Michael, Jason and Jim. 

Why Guerrilla Marketing?

The governemnet estimates that between 20 -40  million Americans change jobs every year.  That's a staggering  number when you think about it.  There are no statistics on the number of mismatches vs career advancers - it's been this way for years.

Already reeling from the struggling economy, competition for the remaining jobs is tougher than ever, the rules for getting them have changed, and global competition ensures that the rules will change again tomorrow. Many people needlessly drift in and out of dead-end jobs because they don’t know which industries have a future or how to present their value in the right terms to the people who can hire them. To succeed in this new marketplace, you must have a plan. Your plan must be clear and detailed in every way. It must also be:

• Clever,
• Results driven,
• Marketing oriented,
• Inexpensive to execute,
• Realistic, and
• Achievable.

It should be obvious to you by now that no government agency, educational institution, or think tank has a crystal ball to make a call on the future.  No one predicted the DotCOM bust or GM tanking.  There are simply too many unknown factors when it comes to industry and job creation.

One thing is certain, whether you are employed but unhappy, or unemployed and in need of a new opportunity, as a job-hunter, you are at a strategic fork in the road.  The future is in your hands.

It’s not the strongest of the species, nor the most intelligent, that survive; it’s  the one most  responsive to change.
—CHARLES DARWIN

The New America

In the 1800s, our forefathers witnessed the beginning of a colossal economic transformation with the onset of the industrial revolution. Within a single generation, it became necessary to start clearing out old city neighborhoods and rich farmlands to make way for steel mills, railway yards, warehouses, and office buildings.

To fuel this economic behemoth, people left the far reaches of rural America to take jobs that most of them would hold for the rest of their working lives.

Today in places like China and India old city neighborhoods, entire towns, and rich farmlands are still being cleared to make way for trade and industry.

The tidal wave of economic change—pressure to increase shareholder value quarterly instead of yearly, outsourcing, and rightsizing —all have greatly affected the domestic job market that we once knew. Competition to get noticed and chosen for the best professional opportunities is stiff. No matter how talented you may be, many others also are vying for that top spot.

See which jobs have a future in this "New America" download the 3 complimentary chapters.

I can see clearly now

Survey of 7000+ high tech employers in the middle of the recession reveals why traditional Job hunting methods no longer work.   According to the survey Executives expect Job-Seekers to have researched their company and be able to tell them specifically how they can add value.

Among Executives 97% thought Target Marketing to companies was the best way to find a new job, regardless of the seniority of the job being sought.   Less than 1% thought "networking" was an effective strategy.

In the long run it's easier to decide what you want to do - who you want to do it for and then figure out how to articulate your "value" to your target employers.  Fortunately most people are way too lazy to bother, preferring to play Job Board Roulette instead OR Blast My Resume [resume spammers].  So, when you actually analyze the market and map your skills against it you'll be invited to a party of 2 thanks Shania - where they want only you!

Of course the direct approach requires work.  It's far easier to do what everyone else is doing and blame your lack of results on a poor market. Your friends will buy you coffee - lunch - smily cards even... but after a while their concern will turn to pitty - and they'll start avoiding your calls. 

Guerrillas only eat alone by choice.   Go download and read the complete survey right now.  It opened my eyes ... I can see clearly now...

You are Nike too.

Veteran Ottawa Citizen Reporter Juliet O’Neil has delivered a brilliant 5 part series on the growing phenomenon of temporary workers entitled “Trapped & Temporary”. It’s brilliantly researched, well written and a must read. “Temping, Contracting and Offshoring” aren’t going to go away. They’re permanent fixtures on the North American employment scene. 

 

Here’s what you can bank on:

1. The offshoring trend won’t stop anytime soon.

2. Companies will continue to maximize profits and reduce costs.

3. The government will not solve your career problems—at best it will provide limited retraining assistance.

 

Your job is at risk and subject to being replaced by a “temp” if:

1. It can be broken down into many smaller tasks that can be redistributed to lower skilled, lower paid workers;

2. Your company’s profits are under constant assault by low cost competitors; or

3. Someone else with a high-school education can do your job with less than a week’s training.

Take control of your job and your life today. Start managing your career as a professional services provider of YOU INC.: learn how to brand yourself, increase your value, and ensure a steady stream of demand for your unique talents.

It’s not the strongest of the species, nor the most intelligent, that survive; it’s the one most responsive to change.
—CHARLES DARWIN