job search

Geek Job Guru: The Memorable Candidate.

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We want to be the candidate that gets the job, or the contract, or the client.  We’re always wondering “what kind of person will get this.”  Is it the one with this talent or that, the one that is the most forward, the one that is the most reserved, or just the weirdest one?  Whatever it is we want to be that person, or at least think we do.

In my long experience working, coaching, and researching I’ve found there is one kind of candidate you want to be – and you, my fellow geek/otaku/fan can be it, and may have some advantages in that area.

That candidate?  That’s the memorable candidate.  Well, the well-remembered candidate, really – since you can be memorable for breaking into panicked screaming and running out of the interview.  You want to be memorable in a good way, but for the sake of theory, I’ll just refer to you as being “the memorable” candidate.

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Unemployment Stories: A Depressingly Useful Resource

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I have mixed reactions to Gakwer.  I know they seek linkbait traffic, but they also do some good stories and I do enjoy snark.  But I think they’re spot on in their continuing, depressing series “Unemployment Stories.”

http://gawker.com/tag/hello-from-the-underclass

Basically, people send in their tales of unemployment and some get published.  It can be depressing or heartening, though it tends to be sad for obvious reasons.  There are times it verges on “disaster porn” but most times it’s really heartfelt.  The commenters often provide additional insights that I’ve learned from.

Let me warn you first and foremost.  This is depressing as hell.  Some of the stories are terrible.  Some of the people writing in are obviously troubled.  But there’s also a lot of insights.

So, in my role as Elder Geek Career Coach I read these.  I recommend you do because you can learn a lot.

  • You can understand people’s situations better.  Not all of us “get” how other people’s lives are going or what got them there.  The relatively diverse sample (for an online effort) can give you a wide variety of perspectives on unemployment.
  • You can understand what has and hasn’t worked for people.  This has been very informative for me as I can understand people’s successes – and failures.
  • When you find stories about people like you .  . . you realize you’re not alone and can understand what you should and shouldn’t do.
  • You can also read stories from people not like you and truly understand how people different than yourself are impacted by the economy.
  • You get a sense of the economic impact of our continuing economic rambling disaster.  Sure you may not have felt you needed it, but for me it’s been useful in getting a gut level feel.
  • You get reminded about other jobs, professions, and regions.  Take it from a guy living in Silicon Valley, you can forget the world outside your geographic/professional sphere.
  • The commentaries, as noted, often provide advice and insight.  Sure some can be insensitive or ignorant, but that’s life.

There’s really only two problems I have.

One, I think more people should be doing this to try and get attention.  I’ve even wondered if an “unemployed geek” profile might work here, though I’m not sure it’d fit what we’re doing (though I am considering some similar ideas).

Secondly, I think there should be a counterpart to it on people who got jobs and how they managed it.  Of course, someone could do that at other sites.  We do that here in interviews.  Maybe you could do something as well at your site – that’s a blatant hint, by the way.

It’s a good resource.  Steel yourself and check it out.  I think you’ll learn a lot.

– Steven

Decide What Not To Do In Your Job Search

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Whenever I coach people on job searching, they usually feel overwhelmed.  They have many options, many possibilities – and many things to panic about and be terrified of.  There’s so many things to get done and so many potential problems to head off that they freak out, shut down, or burn themselves out.  Sometimes they manage all three (in about that order).

We’re taught more is always better.  More of this.  More of that.  More apps.  More memory.  We miss that more is not always good, better, or desirable, but I think that’s a larger cultural/economic issue to discuss another time and another blog.

So here’s a very important piece of advice for you in your job search – and indeed your career.

Decide what not to do.

No, I’m serious, you can’t do it all.  So you have to make strategic decisions to say ‘no’ to something and mean it.

Sure, you can probably do anything.  You’re a geek like me and the rest of the Justice League of Weirdos here.  You’re smart, talented, wired, and probably charged up on caffiene.

But still you can’t do everything.

If you try and do everything, you’ll miss the important things.

If you try and do everything, you won’t do the important things as well as you should.

If you try and do everything, you’re more likely to waste time.

If you try and do everything, you can’t keep track of it all.

If you try and do everything, you will burn out.

Trust me on this.  I’ve seen it.  I’ve heard of it.  A few times, I’ve even done it.  This is why last job search I set boundaries on my time and kept an appropriate focus.  It kept me very sane during a crazy period.

So when you look at your job search strategy, you need to decide:

  • When something isn’t working or appropriate – so you can stop.
  • When a piece of advice, technique, tool, or job board isn’t worth it – so you remove it from your plans.
  • Why you are not doing some of these things – so you don’t keep going over it in your head.

What you don’t do is just as important as what you do in a job search.  To give you a few examples from my own life:

  • When I had decided to move out of a particular area, I identified specific regions I wanted to live in and targeted them.  It made sure I was focused, could learn where to move, got to know markets, and didn’t have to worry later if I wanted to live some where.
  • I have excluded given companies and industries from my search as I have no interest in them.  It’s not worth my time for something I know I wouldn’t like.
  • I have excluded certain websites from job searches as they didn’t help.  Better to miss one opportunity than waste an hour better spent.
  • I had to decide on what networking to do since you can’t meet everyone.

Decide what not to do.  The lack of things will make what you are doing much more likely to succeed.

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.fantopro.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.