Job Search

Steve’s Job Search 2012: Be Your (Best) Self

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So my job search series continues.  Honestly, I may wrap this up into a booklet.

Anyway, for those of you following along, I lost my job late May 2012.  I then went on an intense job search, trying all the techniques I knew.  I found a job in 3 weeks – and also learned quite a bit.  Now I’m writing all my findings up in what is proving to be a disturbingly long-winded series.

One lesson I’ve been realizing for awhile, but that became very apparent, is that you want to be yourself on the job search – your best self.

What I mean by being your best self is that on interviews and searches that you essentially are yourself, but bringing out the best qualities of yourself.  If you’re gregarious, go for it.  If you’re calm and methodical, don’t try to go gonzo and speed yourself up. Bring out your real strengths, and the ones you show when you’re truly being yourself.

As for your negatives?  Own them.  Admit to your mistakes and flaws – and show how your good traits make up for them.  Don’t wave them in people’s faces in some lame attempt at false honest, just admit to them and go on, or apologize if they come up.

Think of it as being the you you want to be able to be all the time – for your interviewers.

This has a lot of advantages:

  1. It’s honest, without falsehood or self-flagellation.
  2. You’ll quickly know if you fit in with the people you talk to – and find fits you may not have expected.
  3. You’ll be natural and people can really assess you.
  4. Interviewers are used to B.S.  They’ll be happy to see someone being real.

I noticed that when I just “was me” the amount of interviews I got and leads I got skyrocketed and many were high-powered.  I even had people who didn’t hire me call me back to help them with recruiting or ask advice.  I’d like to think it’s because I’m awesome, but also I’m sure some of it was that we found the right fit (a few people got disinterested fast), and some of it was they were relieved to not have someone drop a load of B.S. on them.

If you think about it, it makes sense.  If you can fake your way through an interview to get a job, are you really going to be the right person?  If you’re not being yourself, perhaps you come off as false and deceptive.

Be your best self.  It’s honest, productive – and frankly, easier.

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach for professional and potentially professional geeks, fans, and otaku. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/

Steve’s Job Search 2012: A Blitz Works

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I lost my job right before a vacation.  I took some time to send out resumes before heading out to my suddenly-even-more deserved rest, then I hit the job search like the palm of a short but charismatic Lannister.

I hit all the job boards I could.  I burned hours upon hours telling everyone in my LinkedIn directory (who would want to know) about my job search.  I told my friends.  I rechecked my recruiter list.  I probably easily put 50 hours into the search or more in the first week alone.  Maybe more – I can’t honestly remember.

It worked.  I got an insane amount of resumes out as noted, and obviously got results.

A good blitz works for several reasons:

  1. It gets you out there pure and simple.  You might not sustain it, but it does saturate the market.
  2. It lets you evaluate your opportunities.  This is kind of like career echolocation, where you send out signals and see what happens.
  3. It gets some one-time or limited tasks just the heck out of the way so you can focus – like blitzing your contact network.
  4. It gets your name out there, so the chance for “pass alongs” increases with every contact you make.

#2 is one that’s not something I’ve heard people talk about much, so I want to emphasize it.  If you do a big, insane job search blitz, then at least you get a lot of signals back to evaluate your progress.

A blitz is also good as if you get good results then you get reinforced as well.  It’s a good way to keep yourself in good spirits.  If nothing else at least you can drown your panic in activity.

If you’re blitzing the job boards, do not just do the day you start or the last few days.  Go back as far as they can go so you catch up on any posts you can find.  It’s worth it – those positions are up there for a reason, and even if the job is filled, someone may still look at your resume!

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach for professional and potentially professional geeks, fans, and otaku. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/

Steve’s Job Search 2012: Networking

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In my latest job search?  Yeah I did networking.

Yeah, I always emphasize networking.  What did I find out about networking in my latest job search?

Well, yes, it works.  You knew that.  Most of us know that.  I found that it works pretty well – I had several interviews due to networking, and all of them due to people reaching out to me due to past contacts.  As my job search geared up, I got lots of people helping my apply for jobs at their companies (though my results came so quick I had to let them down quick as well).

What did I do?  I took a weekend and wrote everyone I knew and told them my situation.  That took hours.  It was also worth it.

My advice:

  1. Be open about it. Tell them your situation, what you’re looking for, and where you’re looking for it.
  2. If you don’t know what you want or what you’re looking for, hold off until you do – it’ll just confuse things.
  3. Track and follow up with every person who replies, and review your conversations.
  4. When you do get a job, let people know (even if its a LinkedIn post or something).
  5. Find people who can refer you and see if they’ll refer others – after all, they may have some leads for friends of yours.

Networking’s effectiveness is, much like the use of job boards, also bounded by geographic area and connections.

There is also one, big, huge, enormous factor in Networking that I realized while doing my search, something I knew unconsciously, but now I *get* it:

The skills you develop in networking, the attitude of trying to connect, is just as important as any connections that you make.  When you interview, you’re networking, when you handle a rejection you’re networking.  You’re networking throughout the job search even if you don’t realize it.

That networking ability connects you with recruiters and interviewers.  That networking ability lets you turn a failure into a future interview.  That ability simply lets you connect.

That makes a huge difference.  I could see in my interviews that sheer connecting got me results.

So when you’re in an interview?  You’re still networking.  Remember that.

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach for professional and potentially professional geeks, fans, and otaku. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/