Guerrilla Job Hunting

12 Bloggers Blogging

1.  Recruiting Animal and Recruiting Bloggers is the best roundup of thought leaders on job search and recruiting currently available for free on the Net. Michael [animal} has cajoled some of the finest writers on recruiting and job hunting into contributing to this site. I expect a best selling book is in his future. Recruiting Animal is the site to bookmark for a look at the world of recruiting and job hunting packed with both wisdom and wit.
2.  Interbiz – I‘m cheating already [changing the rules] by introducing you to John Sumzer who IS the industry pundit on all things recruiting related. Attracting and recruiting the best talent is the first step in creating a superior workforce and John demystifies this multi-billion dollar industry everyday. If you want to keep your finger on the pulse of what’s new and what works this is      the place to start your day. Beware politically correct people:  he doesn’t pull any punches and always calls it as he sees it. John’s view point is unique.

 

3. Brazen Careerist – written by serial entrepreneur and career smarts guru Penelope Trunk. There’s plenty to learn from a this witty writer who previously founded three of her own companies. Penelope has endured an IPO, a merger and a bankruptcy. She also played professional beach volleyball. Her energy and insight is fabulous. Her new book, Brazen      Careerist: New Rules for Success is due out in may of 2007 from Warner books.

 

4. Bold Career Ian Christie is a former senior director at Monster.com, and retained executive search consultant turned career coach. Ian’s a man in the know and a passionate believer in the power of the individual to achieve great things.  Good stuff.

 

5. Career Hub – A daily dose of advice from some of America's  most prolific career coaches who share their creative ideas for job hunting, including my personal favorites:  

· Louise Fletcher,

· George Bloomgren,

· Heather Mundell and

· Jan Melnick.

 

6. The Day In Recruiting is a daily collection of blogs for and by recruiters. A clever guerrilla job hunter is always interested in how the other side thinks and works. If you want to be found yo should know where they’re looking. Right? Right. It’s the job search equivalent of casting your lure where the fish are jumping. You’ll find:

· Recruiting .com – run by Jobster which in itself you should check out. Especially the blog for

· Cheezhead - the infamous Joel Cheesman is shaking the foundation of the multi-billion dollar job board industry.

· SixDegrees – Dave Mendoza and Shally [again] deliver up a weekly potpourri of what’s hot in recruiting including behind the scenes stories on some of

America

’s hottest recruiters. Their piece on Carl Chapman the Executive Restaurant Recruiter is a hot not to be missed.

· Gautam Gosh, - your ears and eyes off shore Gautam underlines the fact that India is a hot bed of talent and innovation.

· The CareerXroads Annex, - Gerry Crispin understands job hunting and recruiting from the inside out and quite literally brings practical solutions to even the most dire of circumstances [he continues to help in the aftermath of Katrina]

· Jim Stroud - [who writes like a drill sergeant on steroids] has insights for both candidates and recruiters.

· Cindy Craft Is a guiding light for CFO’s and up-and-coming financial execs.

· Tom Frisk dishes up advice on the “wild side”

 

7. PassingNotesAmerica – David Carpe is one of  America's top Competitive intelligence experts AND likely the best in the field of Human Capital Management. If you      want to understand how to dig up information on potential employers this is THE place to start. If you want to understand how us headhunters find you [not that you would want to skew the results in your favor] this is the place to keep up to date on the latest and greatest.              
8.  Secrets of the Job Hunt – CM Russell does an excellent job of taking you behind the scenes into the minds of hiring manager and recruiters      and makes sense of some of the most mysterious issues in recruiting like: working with recruiters and headhunters or what job board to use for what.
9. Paul DeBettignies –  {owner of Nerd Search} blog is a collection of links to resources aimed      squarely at nerds and geeks. Paul also has great gift for pointing out the obvious. He’s an entertaining and informative writer.
10.  Your Hr Guy’s blog can even tell you why you’re      phone calls aren’t being returned after you just had the “bestest”      interview of your life. Straight      forward practical advice served up      with humor and just a touch of compassion.

 

11. Career Journal – Ok it’s technically not a      blog BUT you can’t miss out on reading the daily advice dished up by      career counselors and headhunters from across  America . It’s a must read daily!

12. College Recruiter – if you’re      straight out of school or are hoping your children won’t return home – to      live in your basement – this is the blog for you. It’s chock full of tips tricks and      tactics to get the new grad moving in the right direction toward their 1^st      dream job.

 

11 ways to put a job under your Xmas tree today

On the 11^th Day of Xmas - Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters revealed to me:

11 ways to find a job today

Perhaps networking and cold-calling aren’t for you. You should try any way. Having said that, there are many other ways to break the ice and get into see an employer. Here are eleven which have all been successfully used in the past.

1. Send ½ your resume

2. Write a prospecting letter

3. Send a letter stating you’re over qualified.

4. Do a Competitive Analysis

5. Call Human Resources

6. Send Your Press Kit

7. HOLD A CONTEST OR LOTTERY AND SELL TICKETS

8. Get a job-search buddy

9. Use personal letterhead and envelopes

10. Recruit your Tribe
11. Become "The Expert"

Guerrilla Insight

· Be bold!

· Be passionate!

· Be creative!

· Be tasteful!      

· Be safety conscious.

· Be image conscious.

· Enlist a personal army of helpers.

· Offer a reward to anyone who helps you secure an interview or job.

· Involve the media whenever you can.

 In the end it’s your life and you’re unique, so don’t do exactly what others have done.

Send me your success stories – [email protected] 

10 Super Motivators - Day 10 of the 12 Days of Xmas Job Hunting

On the 10^th Day of Xmas - Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters revealed to me:

10 Super Motivators

As you can probably tell I’m pretty practical. A block & tackle - kind of - just get at it - guy. I know you know that looking for job is a sales and marketing activity. I also know that the loneliness of prospecting whether for a job or new business will eventually get even the toughest battle hardened war horse down. No. No. No. Is not Yes-Yes-Yes!!! So you have to have a reliable way to beat the stinking thinking.

When you realize that the basic aim of every company is to stay in business, you can begin to position yourself as a solution to their need to create and serve the customers who keep them in business, rather than focusing on your need for a job. Understanding this helps you position yourself as a solution to their needs instead of just another job-hunter.

“Solution selling” is in vogue all across America for a very good reason – it works. In solution selling you begin by understanding your customer’s business and therefore the need for your product’s solution. Solution sales people focus on the benefits of their product, not the features. The benefits they emphasize are the ones they know the buyer needs. They know what the buyer needs because they’ve researched the company to discover what its “pain points” are.

When sales people focus on solution selling, they increase the value of their products and services, because their product is not viewed as just another “list of features” like those of every competitor. As a job-hunter, you increase your value exponentially when you focus on the employer’s needs. Here are the best of the best for tuning up your attitude!

Peter Clayton – Peter is the “voice” of job hunting. TotalPicture.com should become your premier source for a daily dose of job hunting insight and intelligence. Not only does Peter podcast interviews from some of the world’s finest job hunting experts but he also interviews the employers and the thought leaders in Human Capital Management so you can understand what employers are looking for in new hires and how they think. Download to your iPod or listen from your computer. I can’t believe this is free!

Guy Kawasaki – Guy launched the first Mac computer and hasn’t stopped innovating. His views on capturing a prospects interest [that’s an employer for you] are always ‘fresh” poignant and logical. His How to Change the World blog is billed as “practical blog for impractical people. It’s certainly is. As CEO of Garage Technology Ventures he’s got a better grip on what investors are interested in… including people.

Jeffrey Gitomer – a fast track to success. This site is a treasure-trove of sales, service and success information. Get his free sales Caffeine Newsletter delivered to your email inbox FREE every Tuesday and you’ll get a jolt of inspiration and rational thought unlike anything else you’ve ever read.

Bill Vick – The saying goes some people make things happen – some people watch things happen and some wonder what happened! Bill Vick is one of  America’s most experienced and accomplished recruiters, an accomplished speaker and author AND a very generous man. Generous with his knowledge in particular on the inner working of the $197 billion dollar recruitment industry in America – insight you as a job hunter should devour!  

Tom Peters – In search of Excellence set the standard by which every other business book is judged. If you want to understand what today’s burning issues are for CEO then this is the place to start. His 100 Ways to Succeed are both insightful and entertaining. Fill your boots!

Tony Parinello – has made a made a science out of C-level executive selling AND that’s who yo should be targeting with your sales pitch about you! Tony’s book helped my company excel through the tech-wreck of 2000-2006. The tactics learned here will get you in front of more CEOs faster than anything else you can do.

Oprah Winfrey – No one has done more to inspire, coach and cajole people to be more successful than Oprah Winfrey. You can’t watch 5 minutes of her show without feeling upbeat. Just not possible and keeping a positive attitude is tough - even for the guys better about yourself. To live your best life check out these tips and explore her site.

Brian Tracy – Is a prolific writer on human potential and sales. A major source of stress job hunting is the “fear of rejection” and Brian’s weekly “sales tips” will not only teach yo how to blow past the negatives but also how to turn a no into a maybe and a maybe into a yes. I’ve been receiving Brain’s free “sales Success” newsletter for more years than I can count. In every issue you’ll learn selling techniques you can apply immediately to your job hunt.

Liz Ryan - CEO and Founder of WorldWIT which is the leading global online AND offline network for women in business and technology. Upbeat and personable she not only writes to inspire she conducts informative and powerfully uplifting biweekly podcast on networking with plenty of tips for job hunters. She’s also a My Linkedin* Power Forum moderator with my LinkedIn Power Forum Chief Encouragement Officer Vincent Wright

Jay Levinson - revolutionized the way marketers do business by defying the conventional wisdom that effective marketing means spending big bucks. He devised highly successful marketing strategies that rely on creativity, imagination and energy—instead of money—to get the job done. In Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters, Jay and I show you exactly how to apply the power of guerrilla marketing with little-known strategies from top recruiters to dramatically increase your job hunting success.

The tidal wave of economic change, pressure to increase shareholder value by the quarter rather than by the year; outsourcing and rightsizing, all have greatly affected the domestic job market that we once knew not all that long ago. Competition to get noticed and chosen for the very best professional opportunities is stiff. No matter how talented you may be, there are many people who are also vying for your top spot and like the Super Bowl in the end there can only be one winner. As a Guerrilla Job- hunter you must stay pumped and implement a strategic multi-pronged plan of attack to outflank your competition.

Day 9 - 12 Days of Xmas job hunting

On the 9^th Day of Xmas - Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters revealed to me:

Nine Tools for Researching Leads

There are a vast number of services you can subscribe to for free that will bring information on hot new companies straight to your desktop every morning. JustSell.com for example delivers a list of all the companies in  America that were newly funded and categorized by state or province, complete with the contact numbers for their executives.

Nearly every news paper that’s available on the web has a News Alert function, and you should subscribe to as many as you need to cover your interests.

Ask the people whom you know which free publications they subscribe to on the Internet and keep ahead of your job-hunting competitors. Here are 8 of the Top 50+ sources for leads covered in Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters:

ZoomInfo – ZoomInfo is the research tool I use the most. Can’t live with out it. Are you in it? You should be! And listing yourself or checking your profile is free. Register and Create a ZoomInfo Web Summary and Be Found and then you can Let Opportunities Find You. This is THE career accelerator you can’t live without. It’s your “job search commando” .

America’s Career InfoNet – Their research tools for industry and occupations are second to none AND it’s free. There are several pages devoted to using it in Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters. Check it out for your self.

Just Sell - will email you a description of every company which has received new funding each week. The free report is divided by state or province and includes a description of the company and the purpose for the round of funding, and often includes the email addresses of the senior executives.

The Money Tree Survey - is a quarterly study of venture capital investment activity in the United   States. It’s collaboration between PricewaterhouseCoopers, Thomson Venture Economics and the National Venture Capital Association. It’s excellent and it’s the only industry-endorsed research of its kind.

PE Week Wire is free and I have daily updates delivered to my email box bright and early each day. PE Week is the only industry publication that tracks and researches private equity deals for the entire venture capital market. The weekly newsletter and daily website give you in-depth news on industry trends, companies seeking investors, deals at all stages, participating firms, deal conditions, proceeds and pricing. It’s been a valuable resource for me.

Dow Jones Venture Capital - Tech, Life Sciences, HealthCare [which is huge beyond] – Dow Jones Venture Capital tracks it and reports on it. Their conferences are second to none.

Vault – their industry career guides are world famous. The thousands of career opportunities on the site are a nice bonus.

Fucked Company – what can I say, some employers are coy and creative when it comes to representing themselves to high performance candidates. If you’re worried about being “blue skied” then check out a prospective employer here.

Google Alerts are email updates delivered to your email address once a day based on information you tell Google to watch for. For example the announcement of new executives or news stories on companies of interest to you. I use Google Alerts to find leads on companies who have hired new VPs of Sales because these executives might need my services to help staff their teams.

On the surface everyone acknowledges that rejection is a fact of life when you’re job-hunting. That it pushes all the wrong buttons – not once – but sometimes hundreds of times. Sometimes it’s not even the rejection letters; it’s the dead silence - the lack of acknowledgement that you even exist. The fundamental truths of job hunting are not pleasant. It’s all about being rejected and ignored. Eventually the stress gets to everyone. – so …. You need to feed your opportunity funnel like a salesperson feeds their sales funnel. The previously mentioned services will accelerate your search 10 fold. 

Party Crashing Job Hunters

Put a new Job under your Christmas tree!

Guerrilla, it’s Christmas time - defy conventional wisdom and intensify your efforts because:

1. Hiring managers are preparing their staffing plans for 2006 right now;
2. It's easier to book appointments and get in to see people as December is generally a slower time for all businesses except retail; and
3.  People like doing upbeat activities during the holidays and interviewing and hiring is one of them; 

If you’re looking for a job, you’ve probably realized that typical tactics—like cold calling and bombarding companies with resumes—don’t work well in today’s intensely selective and competitive job market, so how about:

1. Dressing up like Santa - drop off gift boxed CDs with your resume and a video interview on it – it worked for Donald Trump’s Apprentice.
2. Office Parties – : Not your company’s silly the party the company[s] you WANT to work for. Mix – mingle – network. Dress as a waiter if you have to. Work as a waiter and get paid to boot !
3. Christmas parties - the ones in your neighborhood. I guarantee you 90 percent of the guests know of openings. Ask your host to introduce you to the most connected people in the room. Then ply them full of liquor and work them for leads. No seriously, ask them what’s hot in their industry and who is hiring. Which are the up-and coming companies? If you get a lead, ask whether the person can arrange an introduction for you.

Christmas parties are great because people want to be seen as compassionate during the holidays. People love to help others; it makes them feel good. If you haven’t been invited, then crash a few (appropriately attired, of course). Think Dustin Hoffman  [Tootsie] because you're an American classic too!

The 12 Days of Xmas Job Hunting - Day 8

On the 8^th Day of Xmas - Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters revealed to me:

8 Resumes Rules

There are certain unwritten rules that if you adhere to will increase your chance of getting the attention you deserve.

Give’ em What They Want

You have 6-30 seconds to convince a reader that your resume warrants a complete read, an investment on their end of 5-6 minutes.

A recent poll I conducted among fellow recruiters revealed most spend less than 15 seconds on the first page of your resume. Most, in fact, never get past the email note or cover letter, let alone your carefully worded “Objective” and, frankly, human resource managers are no better.

No one has time to waste waiting for a Job Seeker to get to the point… so the first rule of resume writing is to construct your resume so the Reader gets the information they need fast. A little advance planning is called for.

Be Relevant.

Presumably the reader has a job you’re interested in, so show how your experience fits their requirements. Don’t assume people can or will “read between the lines” – they don’t have time. It’s not their job and they don’t care about you – yet.

 

Target your Reader. 

You need to understand who your “reader” is because – different people read resumes looking for different things.

Recruiters look for “hot” marketable skills because they want to make money marketing you. If your skill set is not in high demand, they won’t call unless you are an exact fit for a job order they have.

HR folks look for an exact skill fit with a job first, then your stability, then your personality type.

Hiring managers look for skill sets first, then how flexible you are and finally your ability to learn on the job.

Keep it Crisp

People are visual. They like looking at documents that are clean, neat and well constructed.

Use Bullets

Sentences, that is. Short sentences are less effort to write and easier to read.  We live in a PowerPoint world. They also give the reader a sense of action and energy. The reader can get the gist of your experience quickly. You can elaborate at the interview.

Highlight your Strengths

Whichever strengths (accomplishments) are the most relevant to your reader – they go first. Always lead with your best foot forward.

Demonstrate Results

Use ###, %%%, and $$$ to emphasize your accomplishments. One million dollars is less likely to be noticed than $1,000,000. Numbers and symbols jump off the page.

Give it “POP”

Power verbs like those below give your resume “pop”, that crisp Joe Friday delivery of “just the facts ma’a’m – just the facts”. They’re high energy and factual, making you appear to be a “driver”! Just rewriting your resume alone with these words will increase your chances of being interviewed by 50%. Here are 35 of the hundreds of possible

• Accelerated
• Accomplished
• Achieved
• Activated
• Addressed
• Admitted
• Aided
• Allowed
• Amended
• Analyzed
• Apportioned
• Approved
• Arranged
• Assessed
• Attained
• Augmented
• Balanced
• Brainstormed
• Calculated
• Certified
• Collaborated
• Committed
• Compiled
• Conceptualized
• Consented
• Contracted
• Convinced
• Coordinated
• Correlated
• Created
• Increased
• Initiated
• Invented
• Led
• Negotiated
• Started

Be Concise

Your resume should not contain one more word than it needs – to make your point. Ok? It’s supposed to create interest not bore them to death. Be a tease!

 

Connect the DOTS for them

Make it easy for the reader to see your fit to their job. Before you write your resume, research newspapers, job boards and Internet ads for positions that are similar to the ones you’ll be seeking.

Ensure that the latest “buzzwords” are prevalent. Common key words and phrases like “JAVA or Audit Trail or channel management or DWDM” should map to the bullets in your resume.

Scientists and senior executives should prepare an appendix of publications and papers as well. Technical people need a separate Technical Summary page for easy identification of your skills.

Personal branding is where it’s at and the unwritten rules are fodder for Branding 101. Check out William Arruda’s site on personal branding for more.

 

The 12 Days of Xmas Job Hunting - Day 7

On the 7^th Day of Xmas  - Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters revealed to me:

7 Social Networks

The key to networking, of course, is to find people you can network with. Fortunately, for those of us who are terminally shy the Internet has made it possible to network from our computer keyboard and avoid those awkward mixers. There are many of online networking sites. All of the sites are based on the “six degrees of separation” principle which recognizes the actor Kevin Bacon as the center of humanity. Each site has slight variations on how you build and grow your network.  The following are the leading sites for job hunters who want to e-network their way to success.

Linkedin.com From a head-hunter’s standpoint, LinkedIn has it all. From a job-hunter’s standpoint LinkedIn represents an opportunity of a lifetime to establish a powerful network of influential colleagues and friends Linkedin.com is my favorite. You can open a linked in account for free. It works by first requiring you to set up your on-line profile and then invite your friends to join your network. After people join they ask their friends and colleagues to join. For job-hunters this is a treasure trove of leads.

Classmates is the grand daddy of online community-based networking. Using Classmates is closer to traditional networking because it’s based on your alumni. At Classmates you can join a network of people you went to school with [high school, college or university] as well as military, industry or company alumni. The challenge with using it to source contacts is that you need to search by state. On the other hand if you want to reach out to people you went to school with to reconnect then Classmates is the way to go.

ExecuNet – If you’re in the 100k or more salary range then this networking venue is for you. ExecuNet was founded 18 years ago as the premier networking site on the internet. ExecuNet still holds that title. They make it easy for senior-level professionals to connect directly with business decision-makers, executive recruiters, and their peers. Not only do they have a web site full of information and advice YOU CAN NOT find anywhere else, they also host 5-STAR speakers and authors. Of course I’m biased because founder Dave Opton wrote the Foreword for Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters. It was either him or Trump and with Dave you’re more likely to hear “You’re Hired!”

Here are other online networking sites which all have unique benefits too numerous to mention here. You should choose at least two on-line networking sites and be as aggressive [staying within the rules of the site] and as creative with it as you can.

Ryze – is a classic. Easy to use and robust. It’s for connecting online and in person because it also has a real life networking component maybe even in your town. The best of both worlds really.

Spoke - great tool for connecting with the Fortune 1000 in particular and sales people of all types. Sales people by-the-way are great resources for job hunters – they’re naturally helpful and often talkative. They boast over 30 million people and 900,000 companies.

MySpace – the Groups Home page clusters people by interests. The site also has a career space.

Heartless Bitches – this site is just for the women. Seriously though. Need career advice and an opportunity to hobnob with some of the most intellectually stimulating and informed women on the planet ? Then this site is for you.

Your network will grow as quickly as you can recruit members who can then recruit other members. Your ability to e-Network your way to a new job grows exponentially as your network develops – a social pyramid scheme so-to-speak. For all the latest on social networking you should read what else? The Social Networking Web Log- which just happens to be loaded with tips on reaching inside the companies you want.

Social networking sites where designed to help people with common interests connect. However several sites like FaceBook MySpace Friendster Blogger Flickr and YouTube have become popular “adjunct referencing” tools for recruiters lately, so I’d check them all out and see if your potential employer is going to find anything embarrassing about you. If they do there’s a new service [thankfully] which deals with this called Naymz.

Bonus:

Quintessential Careers. Ok. Quintessential Careers isn’t a social network .. But it should be... At least for college grads. There’s an encyclopedia’s worth of advice here.

12 Days of Xmas Job Hunting - Day 6

On the 6^th Day of Xmas - Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters revealed to me:

6 Tools to download

Google local - If the geographic location of your potential employer is very important to you for reasons of the commute distance, or maybe because you’re relocating to a new city you may want to consider limiting your search to a specific location. 

There are ways to get local with Google. From http://local.google.com you can conduct a search for employers and businesses in your vicinity. Simply enter the name of an industry or business category in the “What” box on the left hand side, and enter your street address including the city and state, or just enter a city name or even a postal code in the “Where” box. Go try it.

Message Tag - Everybody loves email. It's cheap, easy and instant. But how many times do you find yourself wondering what happened to your messages? You send an email out into the Internet, then wait patiently for a reply. But will it get there? Will they read it? When will they read it? And will it be too late? Where's the reply? Are they still checking that account? Are they on holiday? Should you just wait a little longer? What's the story? --- don’t let the technology derail your job search. Get Message tag and know when to follow up.

My Fax - OK, you’ve just culled a hot lead from ZoomInfo – Googled the exec’s background – rooted out their hot buttons and crafted a compelling resume - - - now what? Thanks to e-mail’s ubiquity, it might seem like the perfect resource for sending resumes. Unfortunately, the “spam blockers” that organizations use to fight unsolicited messages can stop your e-mail dead in its tracks. Sadly, you’re not even likely to know if your masterfully crafted message reached its target. So what does a Guerrilla Job Hunter do? Tunnel inside the company using technology the employer does still trust and can’t block - FAX.

Jibber Jobber - With employees are getting laid off via e-mail and SMS messages on their phones, job security is a thing of the past. No one is immune to cutbacks, downsizing or off-shoring. In fact, you now need to be “looking” all the time to insure continuous employment but let’s face it tracking all those job leads is tedious and time consuming. This is a free site which allows you to manage a serious job search, and includes great networking tools. Get it while it’s still free.

Stephen Covey - Very few people have had as profound an effect on people as Stephen Covey, author, business man and the father of principle-centered living. As Chairman and co founder of FranklinCovey he has made a mission statement builder available for free. The Mission Builder exercise can help to add focus, direction, and a sense of purpose to your daily decisions. The wizard will take you step-by-step through the process of creating a unique, personalized Mission Statement to guide your life.

JobsInsider here we grow again with LinkedIn. This free applet let’s you See your inside connections form your LinkedIn account [you do have on right?] to the hiring manager and companies for any job online at Monster, CareerBuilder, HotJobs, Craigslist, Dice, Vault, and many more.

Bonus:

JobMachine Inc. – Need more advanced tools or a lesson or 3 on how to use the net to maximum advantage? Job Machine run by Shally Steckerl {of Microsoft and Google fame [he ran their business intelligence units for their HR groups]} has a load of tools that are as potentially lethal for job hunters as they are for recruiters.

Now you have to realize that if I’m recommending these, it’s because the most successful executive recruiters use these every day.  Good tools lighten your load and speed your job search.

Day 5 - the 12 Days of Xmas Job Hunting

Day 5

On the 5^th Day of Xmas Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters revealed to me:

5 Golden Rules

1.  It’s not about you – it’s about them. I can not over emphasize this! Employers don’t care about what you want to do or even who you are until after they’ve hired you. So stop telling them about your dreams and start selling to their needs.
2.  No just means – “Not Today”.  An employer’s needs change day-to-day, in real time yet few job hunters will approach an employer more than once – ever!  Learn to repackage and represent your skills in a new light. Sales guys know that most sales are not made until the 7^th call! So… start repackaging yourself.
3. You are the brand.  In today’s world you need to create a resume that makes you get noticed. Your resume needs to be a reflection of not only your  past experience but who you are as an individual because lets face it personality counts just as much as your credentials.
4. Sex Sells - Much like lingerie, the purpose of a good resume is to heighten your reader’s awareness to what’s possible… ;-)
5. You need to become a Guerrilla Job Hunter - Jobs are temporary in the new economy - henceforth you need to always be looking for the next opportunity.  When a recruiter      contacts you – how many times have you spurned them with “I’m happy where I am” and made a decision without knowing the facts? That is a career limiting reaction… even career suicide. No intelligent person would make that comment without hearing that person out AND a true      executive search professional would never try to talk you into something that wasn’t good for you. For example, I helped a Marketing Communication Manager upgrade her salary from $41k to $95K. If this person had listened to me they would wasted away unappreciated by her former employer. But it’s not always about money either – it’s about opportunity.

Guerrilla Marketing is an attitude.  Tap into your future employer's timeless fixations with vanity and self fulfillment. Show them that --- by hiring you --- they’ll become the corporate hero and score the corner office!

The 12 Days of Christmas Job Hunting - Day 4

On the 4^th Day of Xmas --- Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters revealed to me:

Four Guerrilla style resumes

Chronological
Functional
Value Based
A special 1-page eXtreme Makeover resume

 

Now there’s a lot more to landing your dream job than writing a simple resume. But you know what? That’s what employers typically see first and their decision to interview you [or not] is often made in the blink of an eye.

Here’s the basic challenge: most resumes look and read the same and quite frankly they’re quite boring. They are generic in their writing and approach, even thought each candidate claims to be “special”, “dynamic”, “creative”, and a host of other superlatives. You don’t need to tell your reader this.  You must demonstrate it.

The 12 Days of Xmas Job Hunting- Day 3

Day 3

On the 3^rd Day of Xmas --- Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters revealed to me::

The 3 R’s of job-hunting

In grade school we learned the 3 Rs of Reading, wRriting and aRithmetic. Those were our most important lessons [ok so I’m dating myself]. For job-hunters it’s Research, Relevancy, and Resiliency which will deliver an A+ interview.

Research

As a job-hunter you need to research and determine:

• what are your marketable skills
• which industries/companies you should target that use those skill
• what are the specific needs of each company in your target market;
• who’s in a key position to hire you in those companies [who can say YES to hiring you AND it won’t be human resources unless you’re an HR professional]; and
• what’s the best way to approach them?

The way you approach people will be determined by your research. There’s more about research in the book.

 

Relevancy

Your skills have to fit an employer’s needs. It has to solve the employer’s hot buttons [their corporate weaknesses – this could be sales, market development, research ops].  Remember it’s not about you it’s about THEM!  At the core employers’ initially only want to know three things about you:

• Can you make me money?
• Can you save me money? and/or
• Can you increase our efficiencies?

As global competitiveness increases, employers will be looking for all three of the above. In Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters the book we clearly demonstrate how to express your relevancy – “Value” – to an employer.

Resiliency

Resiliency is the ability to spring back from disappointment and keep moving forward. This is a quality which keeps Guerrilla job hunters focused on their goals and driving forward on a daily basis.

Adopt a positive mind set no matter what. Here’s how you do it: You should have your job hunting goals sitting in front of you everyday and review it everyday. Morning and night and then execute that plan.

Guerrilla job hunters always look for the positives even when people and events are clearly indicating they shouldn’t.  Guerrilla job hunters need to look under rocks too.  Let me end this section with a story that touches on all the points you’ve been reading about attitude. This has been a taste of what’s in chapter # 2 of Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters.

 

The 12 Days of Xmas - Day 2

www.jobmachine.net/GoogleJobsByShallySteckerl.pdf  

Day 2

On the 2^nd day of Xmas --- Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters revealed to me:

Two strategies to crack the hidden job market

Focus all your time and effort on the companies you’ve identified as being the Tier 1 buyers of your product - YOU. Anything else is a waste of your time, energy and money. Target your campaign at those companies where you know you can help solve a problem. Nothing beats a direct approach for speed and accuracy.

The 12 Days of Christmas Job Hunting

Day 1

On the 1^st day of Xmas --- Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters revealed to me:

A plan with a very clear goal.

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.

Clever - That’s because the most qualified job hunter is rarely the one who gets hired. The positions[s] invariably go to the person who does the best job at positioning themselves as the solution to an employer’s problem. Often the employer doesn’t realize they have a problem and it’s your job to bring that to their attention.

Results driven. - You must measure your progress. You need to do this so that you’ll understand how close you are to achieving your goal and stay motivated and committed to your plan.

Measuring requires tracking the metrics which drive you to your finish line. Here are a few of the dozens of proven tactics Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters shows you how to measure:

• How many out of the box activities have you deployed?
• How many targeted resumes you’re sending out,
• How many guerrilla networking activities you’re engaged in.

Marketing oriented - Because the market is geared toward those who effectively brand and market themselves as the ultimate commodity across multiple distribution channels. Winning the War for Talent requires you to become great at guerrilla marketing yourself.  Looking for a job is a sales and marketing activity where you’re the product.

Inexpensive - In 1997, Tom Peters introduced the concept of “Brand U” in his book Re-Imagine! At the time, self-branding was an assertive marketing concept best reserved for high-flying techies and senior executives who wanted to maximize the financial returns of their biggest asset—their career. Today personal branding is a matter of survival. Here’s how to brand yourself for free.

Realistic - Knowing what you want to do is great. Combining that with what you’re ‘qualified” to do is the secret. You may be pleasantly surprised at how your current skill-set maps to other industries. For a clear picture of what’s possible to do with your skill-set I suggest you visit America’s Career InfoNet.

If you’re not qualified for what you want to do get moving and determine how you can become qualified. In my 20+ years of executive recruiting the biggest problem I’ve run into is that people aren’t realistic – especially the unemployed. You’re setting for disappointment if you apply for jobs you’re not qualified to do. Sometimes you may have to take a temporary step backwards to move forward in a new career BUT the sooner you start the sooner you’ll hit your goal. If this even remotely applies to you then you need to make one New Years Resolution – and it’s to yourself – I will check out America's Career InfoNet

Achievable. Knowing the exact title and function of the future role you want gives you a realistic goal with no excuses. Get specific. The more detailed the better.

For example, I’ll bet you Vicky Vlachakis new exactly what she wanted to do and who she wanted to work for before she started her job search. When the opportunity came along to design the new two-seater convertibles for Saturn and Chrysler she recognized her chance to knock not one but two home runs out of the park. 

Nothing is more important to your success than a clear “picture” of your goal. If you can envision your dream job AND you’re qualified to do it then you can find it. With a specific goal in mind you can organize your job search and networking efforts with a laser like focus. Yes some people are lucky and fall into great jobs but luck [as Tom Peters says] is so unpredictable.  The dramatic changes we’re witnessing in the marketplace mean that the tried-and-true methods of finding a job will no longer suffice. Those old ways should remain a part of your plan, however by themselves they don’t provide the horsepower to get the heightened attention of employers.

Clarity of purpose is both energizing and enabling.  Before you spend even one more minute job hunting make sure your goal is clear.

Now go to top of this post click on "MAIN" and go rad the rest of the series as they come out up until December 22nd.

 

 

The 12 Days of Christmas Job Hunting

Contrary to popular belief, Christmas is an ideal time to look for a new job and Job-hunters should defy conventional wisdom and intensify their efforts during the holidays because:

1. Hiring managers are preparing their staffing plans for 2007 right now;
2. It's easier to book appointments and get in to see people as December is generally a slower time for all businesses except retail; and
3. People like doing upbeat activities during the holidays and interviewing and hiring is one of them.

Starting tomorrow morning we will be bringing you a collection of the best of the best resources to help you land a job during Christmas.  In keeping with the spirit of the season, you can hum along to the tune of "The 12 Days of Christmas". 

The ideas, links, and tips and tricks have been organized to take you from a standing start into the interview process.  We hope it helps you or someone you care about find their dream job this holiday season.

In reverse chronological order the topics we'll be covering are:

• 12 Bloggers Blogging
• 11 ways to find a job
• 10 Super Motivators
• 9 Nine Tools for Leads
• 8 Un-written Rules
• 7 Social Networks
• 6 tools to download
• 5 Golden Rules
• 4 Guerrilla style resumes
• The 3 R’s of job-hunting
• 2 strategies for the hidden job  market, and
• A plan with a very clear goal

Readers can download 3 free chapters of Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters - just in time for Xmas - at http://perrymartel.com