Of the 2,500 applicants, 17 were selected. That is not a typo.  There were 2,500 applicants.  Of the 17 trainees in the class about half of them knew someone at Uverse. On the surface of things that would be a testament to networking, but not entirely. How many people knew someone at Uverse, but did not get the interview or if they got the interview did not get the job? We will never know. Out of respect for their privacy I am not going to mention their real names , so if the Lead’s name was “Larry” and the “Trainee’s” name was “Tom” what did Tom do before getting the job at Uverse? He had worked as a plumber.

While I am not one to determine what would qualify someone to install high tech equipment, I would venture that his inside connection helped to pull him out of the stack for a critical review. He was pretty much able to confirm this. He said, “With 2,500 applicants who has time to scour all of those resumes? If the company can get a testimonial as to character and technical aptitude, why wouldn’t they want to save themselves time and money?” It certainly made sense. Tom had no criminal record and was drug free. He was professional, polite, knowledgeable, earnest and had all of the qualities one would want a technician to have when having their high tech equipment installed. Another insight?  Tom was living in another state when he interviewed for the Uverse job. He said, “You have to be willing to go where the work is.”

What about the other half of the applicants who knew no one at Uverse, but were able to get the job? Again, this leaves a lot of room for speculation but without knowing anybody on the inside I think it is safe to say – whatever their credentials – they were able to make the credentials they did have shine. I asked Larry about his experience in the hiring process. Larry also had a contact on the inside when he was hired. He was able to tell me that about half of the people in his training class of 25 knew someone who was already working at Uverse.

The crux of my message is networking is very helpful, but it is not the begin and end all to getting a job. If you do not know anyone on the inside, you can still get a job. While JobTabs Job Search & Resume is geared primarily at professionals, there are insightful lessons to be learned from Larry and Tom’s job search experience.

John Coffey is the President of JobTabs, LLC.  Through JobTabs Job Search & Resume, thousands of job seekers have taken control of their destiny in finding new and fulfilling careers.  JobTabs Job Search & Resume motivates job seekers by making the job search easier by a huge order of magnitude.  John Coffey can be reached via his website at JobTabs Job Search & Resume, by email via jpcoffey at jobtabs.com, and by phone at 404-255-0248.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics says February unemployment checks in at 8.1 percent.  That would be 651,000 jobs in the tank.

Ouch.  Breath in . . . . . breath out . . . . This is mind numbing news.  The kind of news when you just sit there in front of the tube in utter disbelief, kind of trying to drink in the impact of the news.  What have we done to ourselves? While this is hardly a 9/11, I can’t remember being immobilized in front of the TV at any point since 9/11.  On that fateful day, I sat in front of the TV in utter disbelief.  I didn’t call in to say I would be late to work.  I didn’t worry about what kind of reception I would get when I got there.  I staggered in at about 10:00 a.m. that morning and the office was deserted.  The only people there were sitting in front of their computers crying.  Again, 8.1% unemployment is no 9/11 but it is the kind of news that said things are going to be very different from now on.

As a mentor to job seekers my job is to put this news in perspective.

Competition

There are less openings to go around, but there are still lots of openings. You cannot allow this to escape you.  An 8.1% unemployment rate is not going to bring this economy to a halt.  I’m not going to get all technical on you, but full employment is roughly around 4%.  Full employment means that there would be 4 out of every 100 people looking for a job even if the economy was running at full throttle.  So now we have a little more than 8 people out of a 100 looking for a job.  This means if 92 people out of 100 are working,  then there are 92 jobs that need to get done.   This is 92 jobs that companies will pay people to do and your job is to find one or get the company to create it on your behalf because you are so good at what you do.  Again, 92 out of every 100 people have jobs that are worth being paid for.

Income

Sophomore level economics states that price is the equilibrium point where supply equals demand.  Since there is a high supply of people looking for a job, prepare to take a good deal less than what you would normally accept.  Its a downer, but it is a stark reality of the economy.  Again, bite the bullet.  To illustrate, remember when you didn’t sell any stock two months ago because the price was too low?  What is the value of those stocks now?  Again, take it on the chin.  Accept the lesser income and you will be glad you did.  If you could have got more, you can take that up with your boss once you start adding value.

Gloves Off

Take the gloves off.  In a particularly competitive job market you need to milk every advantage you can get.  It does not matter if someone is better trained or has better experience than you do.  This is a stark reality of the job market.  Your ability to sell yourself as the person the company needs the most is the sole determinant of who gets the job. If you can morph your experience on your resume more easily than the next guy – more power to you.  If you have a tool that tracks your job search activity in the background while you focus on your job search that is a feather in your cap.  If you are able to employ a resource that allows you to reach wider and dig deeper than you have an advantage and nobody would knock you for leveraging that advantage.  Look at some of these solutions and see if you can find one you can use.

In closing, once you get over the jolt it is time to roll up your sleeves and get on with the business of life.  I welcome your comments below and encourage a dialog on this very alarming news.

John Coffey is the President of JobTabs, LLC.  Through JobTabs Job Search & Resume, thousands of job seekers have taken control of their destiny in finding new and fulfilling careers.  JobTabs Job Search & Resume motivates job seekers by making the job search easier by a huge order of magnitude.  John Coffey can be reached via his website at JobTabs Job Search & Resume, by email via jpcoffey at jobtabs.com, and by phone at 404-255-0248.

Show me someone who advocates looking for a job by the seat of your pants and I will show you someone who is unemployed.  Gentle reader, a game plan doesn’t have to be a complicated flow chart or something constraining.  A simple agenda is all we are talking about.  The means which people use to find their next job will be as varied as the people themselves. What works for Bob may not work for Ann, however anything that helps both Bob and Ann keep their head on straight and objectively plan and implement their job search will work for both of them.

I work with a lot of job seekers and I often advise them to work with  job listings and recruiters first.  Most people are not used to writing or even looking for a job for that matter. This is the reason that I advise them to, initially, work the job boards. They have to get in the groove of selling themselves and that like many things this will take practice. While networking is touted as the best means of getting a job, it is better to make a mistake/faux pas on your job search in the anonymity of cyberspace than it is to make a mistake networking with your next door neighbor.

The recruiters will serve as pseudo-career coaches because when you meet with a recruiter, that recruiter can give you a lot of advice on honing your resume and helping you sell yourself. Granted, a cannot recruiter provide the comprehensive feedback that a career coach can provide. However, when you work with a recruiter you are, so to speak, their product, and they have a vested interest in helping you convince employers that you are the candidate of choice. Recruiters are battle hardened professionals and they have much to gain by helping you get a job offer.

After job seekers prep their skills with job boards and recruiters, I encourage them to start working their network. They will be much better at selling their qualifications after getting some exposure to recruiters and job boards. Planning/implementing your job search is important.  Write down, how many jobs you will apply to on the job boards.  Commit to sitting down face to face with recruiters in an effort to get their feedback on your marketability.  Beg them to shoot straight with you  if you have to – just get the facts. Come up with a plan that allows flexibility to create more resumes and tweak each one depending on the requirements solicited.  Schedule time to meet with your networking groups.  Finally – and this is so important – review the plan and change it.  You know, like wash, rinse, repeat.

Show me someone who advocates looking for a job by the seat of your pants and I will show you someone who is unemployed.

As job seekers work with different channels, their job search skills need to evolve and get stronger. They need to build upon a foundation and pay dividends. The job search for most job seekers is a crap shoot where you put your chips on the table and roll the dice. As the job search progresses they think they are becoming better job seekers, but in actuality they are just becoming better gamblers. It is still a losing game and is leading job seekers down a path of dejection and despondency. They can’t see that because they have no plan nor a record of a an implementation to give themselves or a mentor/career coach an objective view as to what they have been doing.   Write down your goals, write down your agenda, and stick to it until it is time to reevaluate it.

John Coffey is the President of JobTabs, LLC.  Through JobTabs Job Search & Resume, thousands of job seekers have taken control of their destiny in finding new and fulfilling careers.  JobTabs Job Search & Resume motivates job seekers by making the job search easier by a huge order of magnitude.  John Coffey can be reached via his website at JobTabs Job Search & Resume, by email via jpcoffey at jobtabs.com, as well as by phone at 404-255-0248.

Employ a tool when job searching. You can google “job search software” or go to download.com and type in “job search” to evaluate packages as there are lots of them out there.  We suggest keeping the following key points in mind when weighing the value of different packages.

MS Word. A first rate tool will be seamlessly integrated with MS Word or employ a word processor that will create MS Word documents.  In addition to making you look more professional, many employers prefer resumes in MS Word format.  You should make this a consideration a priority when looking for a tool.

Manage Resumes. As you pursue different opportunities, there will invariably be some shade of gray of the job requirements that you will need to include in your resume.  The likelihood of finding a job that mirrors your experience exactly will be few and far between.  A professional caliber tool will be able to manage all of the different resumes you have created to qualify yourself for different positions.  A tool that will keep a history of each resume as it changes over time will be an added plus.

Employ Templates. We firmly believe cover letters should be tailored to each and every job.  However, do you really want to type your salutation, address and closing paragraph every time?  The repetitive nature of the job search can sap job seekers of their motivation and you should consider a tool that will allow you to side step any work that smacks of repetition.

Jobs. Whether you find the job on the web or through your professional network you will need to capture every detail you possibly can – permanently.  If the employer gets enough resumes and they pull the job posting off of monster.com will you be able to remember the details of the listing?  Consider a tool that can capture listings and save them permanently.

Details. If you are serious about your job search, you will want to have a copy of every email you send anybody during the course of your job search.  This should include notes of every conversation you have as well.  You should be able to catalog all of your research on each employer and have it at the ready as well.

Automatic. This final consideration, we cannot emphasize enough.  Employ a tool that automates the job search as much as possible.  In other words, if you have to log every job search activity you do, aren’t you just working with a glorified spreadsheet?  Isn’t that what you were doing before?  If you send an email and you have to make a note of it aren’t you just adding to your burden?  If you change your resume and have to make a note of it aren’t you encumbering yourself unnecessarily?  We emphasize this, because most people are not prepared for the considerable amount of effort they are going to have to put forth to find the job that is going to bring them the happiness they are looking for.  Repetitive, mind numbing work is what so many people dread when looking for a job.  Employ a tool that can do it for you.  Unless you can nullify much of the administrative burden, you are going to be belaboring yourself unnecessarily.  To summarize,

• When you find a job you want to pursue, there should be no cutting and pasting.  You should be able to save it automatically.
• When you create a new resume from an existing resume, it should be added to your arsenal of resumes automatically.  When you change a resume, you should be able to continue your job search without having to record any changes you made to that resume.  Yet you should still have all of the details of the prior versions in case a prior recipient wants to review it with you.
• When you want to edit your resume, it should open up in MS Word or a word processor of that caliber automatically and keep a record of the changes so you don’t have to.
• Every time you send an email it should be logged automatically.  This will allow you to focus on your job search.
• You should have a bird’s eye view of your status of every one of your job applications – based not on your ability to log events – but based on what you have accomplished in  your job search.

Above all else, you should not have to log a single thing, because to do so would be to tax yourself even more.  No doubt this is a tall order to fill, but these tools are out there and they can be had for less than $50.  Our favorite is JobTabs Job Search & Resume.  JobTabs fulfils all of these requirements and then some.  Alternatively, you can google “job search software” or go to download.com to search for options.   Liberate yourself from the administrative conundrum of the job search.  You will be able to apply to jobs more easily, gain more confidence, and ultimately get better job offers.

John Coffey is the President of JobTabs, LLC.  Through JobTabs Job Search & Resume, thousands of job seekers have taken control of their destiny in finding new and fulfilling careers.  JobTabs Job Search & Resume motivates job seekers by making the job search easier by a huge order of magnitude.  John Coffey can be reached via his website at JobTabs Job Search & Resume, by email via jpcoffey at jobtabs.com, as well as by phone at 404-255-0248.

Let’s have a look at how Traci keeps track of her job search and let’s see how JobTabs Job Search & Resume can help you do the same thing.

I have found that one of the most useful things I started doing was to keep track of everything I am doing. I use a simple spreadsheet, like Excel. And I do mean everything. I have one file where I enter all the information from any job sites that I join. Information such as the username and password I created, what type of job site is it ­ freelance or regular or specialty. The date that I joined and whether I posted a resume to the site or filled out their own skill assessment list goes in the file too. After about the fourth or fifth one joined anyone can be forgetful.

The great thing about JobTabs is it allows you to keep track of everything.  And I do mean everything.    The JobTabs Search Agents not only keep track of which site you search on, but also all of the search terms you use when you return to the site each time. In many cases, you don’t even have to have a login, because if you have access to the Advanced Search page you can create repeatable searches without having to create an user account at all.  This can be a big time saver as well as add a little stealth to your job search.

In another file I keep track of jobs that I have actually applied for. Write down the date you sent it in, whether you mailed it or emailed or applied directly to the employer’s site. Don’t forget to add in all the contact information such as a web site address, the email used to send your application, any phone numbers, addresses or person’s names that were given. This is very important for follow-up inquiries. Something that can separate your resume from the rest of the batch is to put a little work into it, read their web site and mention why you would be a great fit for their company or call them to get the hiring managers name to personalize your cover letter.

Great advice, but ugh! All of this tracking, writing, mailed versus emailed, can be an exhausting undertaking. Why not have it all, yet do none of it? Every time you apply for a job with JobTabs, it will do all of the tracking and logging and detail writing for you. For example, if you apply to a job by sending your resume by email, you just open the email form, attach your resume and send it.  You’re done!  JobTabs will automatically pickup on this and log the company, your contact, the exact resume you sent, the date, exactly which job you found on the internet or otherwise and whether you applied on line or by email or by post automatically! Even if you edit the resume fifty times, JobTabs will still avail you of  the exact resume you sent to the employer.  Our goal was to allow you to focus on getting a job while we did all of the administrative work behind the scenes!

Another page to add to your job search folder is one for classes you have taken. I’m mostly referring to the online tutorials that you can find. This is a great way to beef up your resume and get some experience and skill in a particular area that seems to be a “hot” topic for the industry you are targeting in your search. I like to record the web address, any username/passwords that I created and what the tutorial was about for easy reference.

One thing we knew when we rolled out JobTabs to the public is that we had to give them powerful tools to pursue jobs in a systematic way. We also had to allow people to have enough elbow room to do their job search their way. While we do not have a folder per se for classes you have taken, JobTabs has a free form Resources tab that allows you to keep information in any number of formats. You can keep notes and you can also attach any number of documents in any number of formats to include in doc, docx, ppt, xls, , xml, pdf, rtf, html or practically any format you can come up with.

A silly thing I overlooked was the use of various keywords on the job search engines. I was using like “telecommute’ and that was it. So of course it was hard to find hits. Branching out with other phrases will find you more opportunities such as “home-based”, “off-site”, “virtual office”, “freelance” and “work-at-home”.

Again, here is where the JobTabs Job Search Agents come into play. Should the search agents ever fail you, you will always have access to to your searches via the built-in RSS/Atom feed reader. This can serve as a veritable library of great job searching tips.

Keeping multiple copies of your resume is a time saver as well. We all have various strengths and emphasizing certain areas which target a particular company’s job listing will improve your chances by focusing their attention on what benefits you can bring to their company. And just don’t send a generic cover letter with a bland statement, I’ll mention again to at least read some of their company information to personalize it and show the hiring person that you spent some of your time researching them and that you mean business and aren’t just throwing your resume out to the wind. You will save time in the long run if you keep your applications to jobs that you are actually qualified to do.

Traci, shows all of the signs of a prudent job seeker given the details she keeps track of. You absolutely need to have multiple copies of your resume and it is a huge time saver. Our position is that you should let a software program do all of the tracking so that you can focus on your job search. Enter JobTabs. JobTabs can keep track of a virtually infinite amount of resumes. Moreover, all of your resumes can be previewed with a single click. No searching in folders, network locations or even websites. All of your resumes are conveniently stored in a hierarchical tree so that you develop increasingly more refined resumes depending on the job you are applying to.

Your cover letters are as easily maintained. Enter in the contact information one time and the cover letter will show as if it had been tailor made for the job to which you are applying. It really is that easy. You can develop your cover letter template to be as brief or as detailed as you see fit.

JobTabs Job Search & Resumes is a tool that was initially designed for professional job seekers, i.e. IT Contractors, and you would be served well if you took some cues from the pros in your job search. Simply reading the help file will do much to enlighten any job seeker and we invite you to be our guest.

In closing, the article written by Traci Pederson is well written and we tip our hat to her for her demonstrated prowess in identifying the details that job seekers need to keep track of. We do not differ with her in her wisdom or the practical advice she has chosen to share with job seekers. We are only demonstrating how JobTabs can serve as a next generation alternative that warrants a closer review by anybody who chooses to stay on top of the details in their job search.

And then CNN really blew me away . . . .

Not having access to the pilot so soon after the landing, CNN had to do the next best thing.  CNN broadcast C.B. “Sully” Sullenberger’s LinkedIn profile on national television.  I was almost as amazed by this act as I was by the heroism carried out by the pilot.  See Captain Sullenberger’s LinkedIn profile here.

Whether you realize it or not, LinkedIn is a source of information as to who you are as well.   What does your LinkedIn profile say about you?

For the uninitiated, LinkedIn is a social network with a membership numbering in the tens of millions.  What distinguishes LinkedIn from other social networking sites is that LinkedIn has established itself as the premier site for professional networking.  It is focused on connecting people through business related information and focuses mostly on collecting information one would typically find on a resume.  Here are some guidelines for using LinkedIn as well as some pointers to other resources.

Professional Presence

If you have succeeded in garnering the interest of a prospective employer and that employer has decided to gather a little more information on you before inviting you in for an interview, most likely, LinkedIn will be the very first stop.  You want to present yourself professionally under any and all circumstances.

Connect Judiciously

Every person you know can act as a key source of information regarding a company or a job opportunity.  It does not matter whether you know them from high school or your bowling league.  If they would help you and you would help them, they should be considered for your LinkedIn network.  There will be people who have thousands of contacts on LinkedIn.  As to what their goals are and as to what they hope to accomplish with such a vast network of people they can’t possibly know well is beyond us.

Commend and Be Commended

The testimonials your colleages can grace you with are very important.  Lots of high quality compliments will bode well for your candidacy, so we encourage you to gather as many as you can.  Do not be afraid to ask your former colleagues for a recommendation.  If you have to write it yourself and forward it to your friend as a template, then do so.  Get the commendation.  Companies are increasingly looking to these commendations as a means of moving forward with a candidate and you should leverage this movement to the best of your ability.

Now Network

When you are ready to begin networking for a new job, LinkedIn will be a fantastic place to start.

While networking is reputed to be the best means for getting a job, we do not always recommend you start there.  Like many things we begin anew, we will make some mistakes.  It is better to make a mistake in the anonymity of cyberspace than in the close confines of personal networking. Get used to talking about yourself, your accomplishments and what you have to offer via recruiters and job applications before you embrace networking in your job search.  You will be more confident and more convincing when you do.

We think the best thing any job candidate can do to get an interview is have a bull’s eye resume for the job they are applying to.  When you find a job you want to apply to research the company thoroughly.   Leveraging your contacts on LinkedIn for inside information as to what the company is doing and what kind of person they are looking for can be extremely valuable information.  Reword your resume so that your experience is conveyed in the context of the employers goals.

Using LinkedIn with JobTabs

The contact particulars is a free form field.  Whenever you have the opportunity to add a contact’s LinkedIn profile, do so.  When you want to preview thier profile, just click the link on the contacts page and you’re there.  In a future build, JobTabs will have dedicated tab for each contact’s LinkedIn information as well as support a host of other social networks.

LinkedIn Resources

http://www.linkedintelligence.com/ – Scott Allen’s Linked Intelligence is a resource for LinkedIn resources.  Scott documents over 100 creative ways to use LinkedIn and advertises his site as the smart source for all things LinkedIn™.

http://blog.linkedin.com – LinkedIn’s LinkedIn blog.

LinkedIn Videos – YouTube videos on LinkedIn.

Did I forget anything?  Please comment below . . . .

Dirt bag

Bernard Madoff is one of the biggest dirt bags in history.  He bilked individual investors out of their life savings.  He bilked retirement funds out of money to pay pensions.  He bilked noble charities out of every last dime they had.

I cannot imagine ever learning anything from a low life such as Bernard Madoff.  All the same, when he wanted to be someone’s investor he had no trouble getting the interview and then getting the job.  As a mentor to job seekers, it is incumbent upon me to assess how he was able to get one job offer after another.

1.  Madoff had a track record of success. Consistent returns year over year.  Granted, Madoff was not good at being an investor. The returns were all a pack of lies but in the absence of being arrested or being outed by someone who did their due diligence his track record was accepted at face value.  Does your resume reflect your success in your professional capacity?  Are you making sure that your references are attesting to your talent?  Are you mentioning those commendations you received from management?

2.  Every body knew that Bernard Madoff had the outstanding track record.  Because he blogged? No, Madoff’s returns were public and he paid on his returns as well.  Sadly, he didn’t pay from yields of prudent investments, but paid out using the money of new investors. Our message is that Madoff was visible.  Personally, I had never heard of Madoff until the scandal broke out, but in the investment community he was a well known superstar. Is there something you as a job seeker can be doing to make yourself more visible  Are there articles you can contribute to magazines or online forums that can heighten your visibility as a knowledgeable professional?  Have you considered blogging about your area of expertise?

3.  He networked very well. Madoff did not win new clients with fancy ads on TV or in the newspaper.  Madoff was connected to the people who could help him advance his agenda.  He was a was a member of the Palm Beach Country Club among many others.  He hobnobbed with the rich and famous and he milked his network for all it was worth.  Are you connected to people in your area of expertise?  Are you respected in that network?  Are you helping others as well as asking for help?

4. He exuded confidence. Madoff had the grace and charm of of a pedigreed royal.  People wanted to be associated with him.  He smiled.  He was cool, calm, collected, and confident.  Would that describe you?  Are you crying in your beer or are you beaming with optimism because you are so jazzed about those seven jobs you applied to just yesterday?  Are you helping others feel better about themselves and encouraging them to be positive?  Are your actions and your words in sync?

5.  He did not disqualify himself. Madoff was running a Ponzi scheme, yet accepted billions from investment firms, banks and otherwise prudent business people.  Wouldn’t investors with this kind of money have armies of accountants and financial analysts descending on Madoff’s firm every quarter or at least watching his every move given they had billions invested with him?  Obviously not.  Madoff did not disqualify himself from managing the resources of financial juggernauts even though he was completely illegal.  Assuming you are a law abiding, hard working professional, are you disqualifying yourself from jobs could be applying to?  Are you rationalizing as to why they will never hire you?  Are you disqualifying yourself from applying to jobs you find exciting?  Are you afraid to put your best foot forward and let them know how good you are at doing what you do?

In closing, Bernard Madoff is a good-for-nothing crook.  If he had been legal he really would have been a superstar investor.  The scrutiny that the media has put on him shows exactly how he would have attained that success.  If you are good, everybody knows you are good, you are well networked, you exude confidence and you do not disqualify yourself; you can be a superstar in your area of expertise.

John Coffey is the President of JobTabs, LLC.  Through JobTabs Job Search & Resume, thousands of job seekers have taken control of their destiny in finding new and fulfilling careers.  JobTabs Job Search & Resume motivates job seekers by making the job search easier by a huge order of magnitude.  John Coffey can be reached via his website at JobTabs Job Search & Resume, by email via jpcoffey at jobtabs.com, as well as by phone at 404-255-0248.

Take a moment to consider the true cost of a move in this economy.  If you make $80K in Tallahassee, Florida and you get a job offer in Waxahachie, Texas for $80K, you may be looking at a $50K capital gains loss.  What?!  How so? If you bought your house for $250K and are trying to sell it in the worst housing market since the Great Depression what do you think you will be able to get for it?  Wow, and to think that house could have sold for over $300K just a few years ago!  You may have to sell your home for $50K less than you paid for it if you have only been living in it for a short time.

Our message is that you will want to have choices when considering a job.  To have choices you need to have offers.  To have offers you need to work on your job search with unbridled discipline.  It is too expensive not to. The job search can be a real downer.  Staying motivated and productive every day is absolutely essential to having an outcome you can be happy with.  Sometimes just starting your job search is all you need to do to be productive all day and this is what we are encouraging you to do.  Committing to working at it every day, at a certain hour and for a certain duration is extremely important.  Share your regimen with your spouse and your children and let them know how important it is that you be allowed to work hard at your job search.  If the prospect of writing one more resume or one more cold call makes you nauseous, commit to a smaller work window than you normally would.  Commit to as little as two hours if you have to, if that is what it will take you to just start your job search.  If you are still nauseous after two hours, you met your goal and can stop for the day.  However, refrain from committing to a duration that you cannot fulfill or will discourage you from just starting your job search the next day.  You will be amazed at how long you will stick with your job search if you can just bring yourself to the table.  Again, it is not easy, but this works because so many have succeeded in overcoming this dilemma so often.

We also encourage you to invest in a solution that will minimize any aspect of the job search that you find so distasteful.  Job search tools can do a lot to eliminate the tedious, repetitive work that drains the energy from so many job seekers.  They can also serve as a means to set goals every day and stay focused, ultimately leading you to becoming an energetic, motivated job seeker.

The cost of not having any choices is too expensive to ignore and you do not want to have to pull up your stakes to move to another part of the country.  This is what we are talking about when we encourage you to control your destiny.  This economy has put a lot of people in an extraordinary circumstance that will call for some extraordinary discipline to weather.  Simply starting your job search everyday can be the linchpin event that will lead to the job that will provide the security and happiness we are all looking for.  Stay regimented in your commitment to land a job and you will truly find yourself in a position to control your destiny.

Most job searching networks are free and are held at community centers or churches.  There is no need to be of a particular denomination and typically there will be no discussion of faith.  These are people helping people and it is a beautiful thing.  Even if you are trying to move across the country a local support group can help you in many ways.  Most likely, you will also meet some new friends.  The job search is a draining experience in so many ways.  When people brave harsh circumstances together, a certain authenticity comes to the surface.  People tend to be more sincere and open as to who they are and what they are up against.  It will not be a waste of your time.

Lest you believe that the networking groups are for losers, you will be amazed at the considerable number of tier one, top-notch, alpha males/alpha females, that are looking for jobs.  These people will remind you that you are not alone.  The typical job seeker will look for a job every 3-5 years.  By going to these support groups you will be assured that it is perfectly okay to be looking for a job.  You are molting professionally and when you emerge from this cocoon you will have the wings of a butterfly.

A great resource for finding Job Networking Groups in your area can be found at job-hunt.org.  job-hunt.org was founded by Susan Joyce after she was laid off from Digital Equipment Corp.  Take a gander at this resource page,

http://www.job-hunt.org/job-search-networking/job-search-networking.shtml

The job search – do not do it alone!

Can you share any other sources of job networking groups?  Please post them below.

Whenever I go to the hardware store, I always read the instructions of anything I need to install before I make any purchases.  It gives me the opportunity to buy any extra tools I might need and gives me a chance to make sure I am up to the task.  Picked up a Stanley ball catch and read the instructions.  Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.  Got it.  Took it home, whipped out my hulking, pseudo-phallic symbol of a power drill and went to work.  I always read the directions several times before I do anything, because a mistake on a home project is acutely painful – especially if there is a drill involved.

I don’t know how I did it, but I completely missed this word ‘mortise’.  I didn’t really know what it meant, but how difficult could it be?  Any step described by one word can’t be that complicated.  Step 6 was soon upon me, ‘mortise’.  I whipped out the dictionary and looked it up and still couldn’t figure it out.  Then it dawned on me.  I had to gouge out a recess in the door frame so that the strike plate would be be flush with the frame.  When the door closes, the ball in the ball catch needs a recess in the frame to hold the door shut.  I don’t like the idea of gouging anything and began to make the problem much more complicated than it really was.

“Huh?  I have to gouge a recess in the frame?!  Why didn’t they just say so?! These people were expecting me to get my wood chisels and start carving a hole in the door frame.  I’m not a carpenter! How many rows upon rows of lexicographers did it take to come up with this word – mortise!?  If they wanted me to gouge out a hole in the frame, why didn’t they just say tell me to ‘gouge out a hole in the frame?’ These corporate titans sitting behind their massive mahogany desks preying upon the everyday house husband.  These people screwed me!”

I was fuming.  Eventually, I cooled off, accepted my situation, and set out to come up with a solution.  Wound up drilling a couple shallow holes and then finishing it with a slightly deeper hole in the center.  Piece of cake.  The ball catch works beautifully and is the standard to which all persons installing ball catches should aspire.

Then the pall of the irony hit me like a ton of bricks.  The Stanley Corporation did exactly what I would have told them to do.  They skirted over the unsavory details.  They created an image of simplicity by making their instructions so trite, I would just read right through them.   If I had been reading the instructions in the store and read, “6.  Gouge or drill a recess in the frame of the door.”, I probably wouldn’t have purchased the ball catch.  I would have looked for a “simpler solution” from another company.  When I actually went about installing the ball catch the real problem was freaking out when things weren’t as straight forward as I expected.  I over-reacted, even though I had all of the tools and savvy I needed to do the job.  They did what I encourage job seekers to do every day. Downplay the details of anything that the prospective employer might find unsavory.  Bring attention to what you have accomplished in the context of what they want to hear.  Downplay everything and anything that does not pertain to what they are looking for.

This of course begs the question, “Don’t you risk running the chance that the employer will be fuming after you get hired?”  The answer is a firm and resolute, “No!”  That’s the job you want, right?  You have the experience and can attest to it, right?  How can the employer fume?  Gentle reader, when you are looking for a job you need to close the deal.  If there is any dissonance after you are hired, you need to mollify the employer’s fears by reaffirming your qualifications and then going out there and doing an over-the-top job.  In fact, if your performance is anywhere near as good as my ball catch installation you can look forward to a long and mutually beneficial relationship with your employer!

#1.  The more you  search the tougher it gets
“Huh?  Don’t you mean, ‘The more you do it the easier it gets?’” Nope.  That’s why its called an irony.  The longer the job search takes, the longer you have been scrutinized, probed on very private matters (annual salary, reason for departure, who are you, etc.), rejected, let down, dead ended, passed over, etc.  Ouch.  You can’t possibly expect yourself to be as resilient after six months of this as you are in the beginning.  Invest in the right tools and resources that will make the journey easier.

#2.  Just when you get good at it you have to stop
When you finally get good at identifying opportunities, researching the employers, tailoring your resume, and interviewing – when you have finally mastered all of this – you have to stop.  This is because you finally got the job offer you want.  Wouldn’t it be great if once we got good at it, we could keep on doing it for a couple more months in case there are hard times ahead?  Yes, that would be great but that is not how it works.  When you get that job offer, you close the books on any other irons you may have in the fire.  You are now among the employed and unless you can work two full time jobs you will have to let other employers know you have accepted a job offer.

#3.  Work all day.  Get no reward
The job search is a 0% commission proposition.  You do not get paid to look for a job.  In fact, all of the work expended in the job search is just to have the opportunity to walk into a company for the purpose of reestablishing the work to reward process.  Yet, most people will tell you that they work harder at their job search than they do at the job they get paid for.  An irony indeed.

What is really creepy is that this is the irony where the head games begin to seep in.  Who would otherwise be hard working men and women have trouble getting out of bed.  The job search begins to give way to those cob webs in the corner of the room that have for the first time in the past four years become really annoying.  And look at the dust in the back of this filing cabinet!  The aversion to your computer will be particularly acute, but you won’t know why.  And then you won’t care.

The job search is an emotionally taxing endeavor.  It is riddled with too many ironies to mention (Did I forget that you have to smile and exude confidence even though you don’t even have a job?) It doesn’t matter.  What does matter is that you use all of the resources you can so that the transition will never be difficult again.

All of this served as the foundation upon which JobTabs was built.  Allow us to show how JobTabs flips some of these ironies.

The more you search the easier it gets
Every time you apply to a job with a perfectly tailored cover letter and resume, you at least have that cover letter and resume to serve you for the next position.  I am not talking somewhere on your hard drive, in the newest email application, zipped up files stored on the web or anything like that.  I am talking right there in JobTabs in a hierarchical tree so that you can identify exactly how that resume puts your best foot forward for each kind of job.  The more jobs you apply to the larger your arsenal of perfectly, tailored resumes becomes.  Moreover, the more jobs you apply to the less work you have to do to perfect each resume to the specifics of any new job posting.

When you get good you will be able to begin right where you left off
We believe that if you want to stand on the shoulders of giants, the best shoulders to stand on are your own.  Simply put, JobTabs has powerful facilities to create your own personal job search knowledge base.  This includes file attachments, hyperlinks and even entire web pages.  What’s more every contact and every single conversation you had with everyone along the way is chronologically ordered for your review.  You will never forget a child’s name or a contacts favorite vacation destination ever again.

Work all day and get no reward
I would love to tell you that we can pay you while you are looking for a job – I can’t.  However, I can assure you that you will get more benefit for the work you expend than you could have ever imagined.  I know because I imagined and derived the benefit of that labor for fifteen years.  Its your turn now.

Billy Mays didn’t write this post, but he serves as the backdrop for resourceful ways to sell yourself on the job search.

There are all kinds of subtleties at play during the process of selling.  You need look no further than the ads that abound on CNN and late night TV.   Personally, I find these ads demeaning.  The sales pitch is so overwhelming it is as if they are focusing on creating a knee jerk reaction on behalf of the user to pick up the phone and buy the product.  The most prolific seem to be these ads featuring Billy Mays, the purveyor of

• Mighty Mendit
• Mighty Putty
• HandySwitch
• Steam Buddy
• and a host of other handy dandy items.

I have studied these ads intently.

What can I glean from these ads that would help the taberatti (people who use JobTabs) land their next job?

Common to all of these sales pitches, whether it is Billy Mays or someone else, is invariably,

“This product is amazing!”
“If you order now I will double/triple the offer!”
“But wait there’s more, I will throw in this handy dandy gizmo absolutely free!”

If you think about it, these are all resourceful ways to sell yourself on the job front.  Let’s have a closer look.

This product is amazing! The message is that this is a product that delivers solutions.  There are compelling videos of people struggling without their product and then showing satisfied people who are using the product.

Let the value you impart as an excellent candidate be unmistakable.  Here is how you do this.

1.  Present yourself as a problem solver.  Much like the videos, use your resume to paint a picture of problems that were not being solved and how the company was suffering.  Then you came in and solved the problems and everybody was happy.  This is the P.A.R. (Problem – Action – Results) approach to writing your resume.

2.  Quantify the impact you had on the solution.  What percentage did sales increase?  How many dollars did you save?  You don’t have to do a business school case study to get these numbers.  Use the best resources available to you and roll with it.

3.  Sprinkle the commendations and accolades you have received from management to let the person reading your resume know that you are good at what you do.

Be sure you understand the professional demands of the position you are applying to.  There are often challenges faced in one company that have been overcome in another.  Be sure that your exposure in the field is rounded enough so as not to disqualify you from consideration.  Make an effort to research the company and find out what challenges they are up against.  The best thing you can do is put your talent in the context of the specific challenges the company is facing to the best of your ability.

If you order now, I will double the offer. The goal is to create a sense of urgency.

Don’t be afraid to create a sense of urgency.  This can be a powerful motivator for employers to give your candidacy serious consideration now.  It is important to note that this has to be done with tact.  Too urgent could disqualify your candidacy because the administrative process cannot move fast enough.  Not urgent enough, will cast doubt on how urgent all of this really is.  In your cover letter, you can mention that you are getting a great response from companies looking for your qualifications, but working at XYZ Corp. is the fit you are looking for.  Examples,

“The breadth of my hands on experience in the  field has garnered more interest from employers than I had initially anticipated given the economic downturn.  As much as I appreciate their interest, I firmly believe working at XYZ Corp would be the best fit for me.  Simply put, I have the experience to leverage the breadth of the product line to give key advantages to XYZ customers that competing firms cannot offer.  As confident as I am that I could deliver results for XYZ, I would not want any delays in the hiring process to impact my candidacy with other employers who are more forthcoming with their interest.    If we could meet this Friday . . . “

“My success at delivering results has garnered more interest from employers than I had initially anticipated given the economic downturn.  As much as I appreciate their interest, I firmly believe working at XYZ Corp would be the best fit for me.  Companies want increased sales and that is what I do best.  I would not want any delays in my candidacy for this position to be construed as ambivalence by other employers who are ready to move more quickly.    If we could meet this Friday . . . “

“My ability to think outside the box and deliver innovative solutions has garnered more interest from employers than I had anticipated given the economic downturn.  As much as I appreciate their interest, I firmly believe I can lend the most value to XYZ Corp.  While every company needs structure and deadlines to succeed, XYZ Corp has long had a reputation for fostering innovation and creativity and this is an environment where I thrive.  As confident as I am that I could have a huge impact at XYZ, I do not want to put off any employers who have made their interest in my innovation and creativity readily apparent.  If we could meet this Friday . . . “

But wait there’s more, I will throw in this handy dandy gizmo – absolutely free! The message is that if you buy this product, you will get more than what you pay for.

We are hardly suggesting that you work for half price.  We are suggesting that you stress the extra value you are bringing to the table above and beyond what they are looking for.  Remember, it is not incumbent upon the employer to draw the conclusion that you are bringing a lot to the table.  For example, if you have a Masters Degree in Management don’t count on your employer saying, “Hey, this candidate has a Master’s degree.  This will provide a better foundation for her judgement.” It is incumbent upon you, the job seeker, to tie the extra value you are bringing to the table with what they are looking for.  Sell it. For example, in your cover letter for a Product Manager position you can say something like,

“My immersion in Boston University’s  M.S. in Management program allowed me to understand organizational behavior and the signposts to look for as a product line evolves.  In addition to leading the product team more prudently, I will be set able to set realistic goals as well as avoid pitfalls that have beset lesser companies.”

In closing, getting a job is going to require some level of salesmanship.  While we readily discourage the use of any knee-jerk, impulse buy sales tactics, there are some subtleties in this approach that you can use to improve your candidacy for the jobs you apply to.  Give your candidacy an edge and sell yourself.  Did I miss any other part of the sales pitch?  Let me know and I will fill in the gaps!

Alison Doyle from About.com

Randall Hansen of QuintCareers.com

Susan Joyce of Job-Hunt.org

Some people are obviously paying attention.  We have seen wonderful examples of well written resumes that incorporate our basic recommendations as well as the recommendations of other professionals.  Sadly, for many, for all of the effort that has been put into writing the resume it manages to read like a military specification for a lug nut.  Our last article in this five part series covers selling your self as a competent professional who is appreciated by his subordinates, peers and management.  Glow.  Bring your resume alive by taking the following cues,

Make it apparent that you do your job well
Read the bullets from your most recent job and ask yourself one extremely important question, “Could some guy who got fired for doing my job badly say the same thing?” Really, look at your resume and ask yourself that question.

To illustrate our point, let’s look at some of the bullets that a SEC Auditor of Bernard Madoff, LLC could put on his resume,

• Audited the books of major Wall Street investment firms for trading irregularities.
• Investigated investment banking compliance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and FTC trading regulations.
• Conducted detailed investigations based on transaction anomalies and whistle blower reports.
• Monitored trading transaction streams for key variances that would point to a breach in normal trading behavior.
• Worked closely with federal agencies to include the Department of Commerce, Office of the Treasury and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
• Apprised upper managements of audit schedules and resolutions.
• Oversaw a staff of nine accountants.

For those of you unfamiliar with the case, as of this writing Bernard Madoff is accused of having masterminded the largest Ponzi scheme in Wall Street history.  He emerged unscathed from as many as four SEC audits all the while bilking investors of more than $50 billion dollars.  Yes, that is ‘b’ as in boy, $50 billion dollars.  That Bernard Madoff is a crook is of secondary importance.  What is of primary importance is that the SEC auditor of his books can’t possibly profess to have done a decent job yet can still put together a respectable resume even though the biggest crook in Wall Street history waltzed right under his nose.

Don’t be afraid to sprinkle some color to let it be known that you do your job well.  For those subjective issues which you cannot quantify, you can complete bullet points with statements such as,

“Commended by management for demonstrating a clear understanding of regulatory procedure.”
“Received a non-periodic raise for performance.”
“Evolved as the go to contact for all issues pertaining to database architecture.”
“Mentored junior sales associates on working within the system to accomplish their professional goals.”
“Conducted workshops for peers on advanced programming techniques.”

A common approach to let the reader of your resume know that you perform your job well is the Problem – Action – Result (PAR) approach.  This acronym varies from CAR (Challenge – Action – Result) to SAR (Situation – Action – Result) but the emphasis is still the same.  Describe the Problem, the Action you took to fix it and the benefit that Resulted from that action.  I will cover this in greater detail future blog posts.

Come across as a person who is easy to work with.
Remember, if your resume bores the reader, then they are not going to be able to appreciate your accomplishments.  Add some color which brings you out as a person and and draws their interest.  Consider,

“Oversaw the United Way fund drive for our division.  Raised over X dollars by . . . . .”  Suggests you have a heart.

“Mentored junior peers on succeeding in the organization by working inside the system.”  This is a subtle way of making you look like a kinder, gentler employee as well as allaying any concerns that you will be an organizational anarchist if you do not get your way.

“Received non-periodic raise for outstanding performance.”  This suggests that you work hard, get results and please your superiors.

These are our examples, but you get the picture.  Whatever you have done that would instill confidence that you are a nice person who works within the system will do wonders. These are the testimonials which can vault your candidacy to the top of the resume stack.  Whether you got the interview via a network connection, a recruiter or by knocking on doors, chances are there were plenty of candidates to choose from.  Once you can prove you are qualified, the next concern on everybody’s mind is whether or not you are going to do your job well and fit in.  This is just as important as having the right credentials.  The right credentials is only the first hurdle; the assessment as to whether or not you will be a valuable and respected member of the team is a much larger hurdle.

John Coffey is the President or JobTabs, LLC the makers of JobTabs Job Search & Resume.  Working as an IT Contractor for over fifteen years, he has the distinction of having been a professional job seeker.  His success in the job search process and the computer program he wrote to manage his job search became the basis for JobTabs Job Search & Resume.  He can be reached at jpcoffey@jobtabs.com or the JobTabs website at http://www.jobtabs.com.

Allow us to illustrate.  Let’s say someone in HR is looking for a self-starter, capable of working independently for an engineering project.  If they typed in “self-starter” and “works independently” they would belabor themselves with sifting through the resumes of every former nursery school teacher, grounds keeper, sous-chef, and Phd candidate who would describe themselves in the same way.  However, if they were to use the nouns which would unmistakably confine them to the genre of professional they were looking for – which is exactly what they do – then they would have much more pertinent results.

Nouns like that describe job titles work well.
Integrated Circuit (IC) Design Engineer
Quality Assurance Engineer

Nouns that describe constraints work very well.
“. . . in compliance with MIL-STD-9858 and MIL-SPEC-2207.”
“. . . in compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley.”

Nouns that have acronyms as well as the acronym spelled out.
“Designed Printed Circuit Boards (PCB) to modulate . . . .”
“Designed Unmanned Vehicle System (UVS) to explore . . .”

Nouns that describe tools.
“Developed solution using MS Visual Studio C# to . . .”
“Utilized the Fabius GS, and Narkomed 6400 gas machines in operating room . . . .”

Not only do you need killer nouns you need lots of them.  Once the search engine finds the keyword it will typically sort resumes in order of relevance.  Computers qualify poorly, but quantify magnificently.  This means they can’t read, but they can count.  Therefore, which ever resume has the highest number of keywords is the most qualified candidate for the search terms.  That seems like a pretty inefficient way to find the best person for the job, however that is how it is done and until something better comes along this is the constraint you have to work within.

To make the best of the situation, do what you can to have plenty of the right words in your resume without ruining ease with which it can be read by people.  This is tactful repetition and tactful repetition is a good thing.  One way to do this is to summarize keywords at the bottom of your employment period with each employer.  You can do this by listing the tools you used, the technology you were exposed to, or the constraints you were in compliance with.  Again, the emphasis here is to move your resume higher in the search results so that they will look at you more closely.  Just make the information you summarize pertinent so as not to bore the reader or waste valuable space where you can sell your accomplishments.

This is a resourceful way of making sure you get enough of the keywords to make you a more relevant candidate.  Another way of doing this is to simply have a summary of keywords at the end of your resume for the explicit purpose of making it easy for search engines to find you.  Be careful.  Some recruiters will strip these lists out under the impression that you are trying to game their system.

In closing, the right nouns are there to raise your visibility.  Above all else your resumes need to show you doing your job and doing your job well.  The final piece in our five part series is the importance of bringing your resume to life.

• Pick up a can of WD-40®, a common household lubricant, and you will read, “Stops Squeaks”, “Protects Metal”, “Loosens Rusted Parts”, and “Frees Sticky Mechanisms”.
• Pick up a box of Ziploc® sandwich bags and you will read, “Keep your sandwich fresh by…”, “Use sandwich bags to decorate cakes. Fill the bag with icing…”, and “Fill sandwich bags with….”
• Pick up almost anything under the kitchen sink and you will read, “Cleans, Disinfects, Polishes, Shines”.

While these products have little to do with each other they all have one thing in common. They define their qualities with proactive verbs at the beginning of the sentence. These are facets of salesmanship that are all around us yet they are so subtle we rarely take notice. JobTabs makes it easy for you to leverage this same form of salesmanship in your resume to convey yourself as a can do candidate.

The JobTabs word processor provides an action verb dialog, shown to the left, which lists powerful action verbs that can put your resume in overdrive. The verbs, with very little duplication, are grouped by nine cross-disciplinary categories which are,

Communication Skills

Creative Skills

Financial Skills

Helping Skills

Management/Leadership Skills

Organizational Skills

Research Skills

Teaching Skills

Technical Skills

What makes this collection of verbs so special is that they are ideally suited to resumes. Specifically, they are proactive, positive verbs that can easily be understood. What’s more is the verbs can be used across many disciplines. For example, just because you are in the financial services industry doesn’t mean that you have to confine your choice of verbs to the Financial Skills category. No doubt there were times when you had to help others, be creative, or use your analytical skills to solve a technical problem. You can pull action verbs from the respective categories to help you qualify your accomplishments.

For what its worth, we were surprised by the appalling quality of action verbs offered by competing products on the web. They offered a large number of verbs, but didn’t seem to have done anything to make sure they were resume grade, top quality verbs.  For example, one product offered “Abandoned” in their list of action verbs. What proactive, can-do person would ever abandon anything? A proactive, can-do person would have,

• “Optimized resources which increased profitability by 8%.”
• “Reprioritized projects to maximize productivity, by…”

Optimizing and reprioritizing imply that something had to put in the back seat or possibly abandoned altogether, but you would never openly state that you abandoned anything. Always apply discretion to anything you put on your resume or seek the guidance of someone who can help you.