Conducting a job search these days can be bewildering and frustrating. The competition seems fierce, the economy is slowing, resumes submitted online seem to fall into a silent black hole, and as a woman of a certain age, even if you get the interview, you often hear that you’re over-qualified. What is a midlife woman to do?
Never fear, help is near.
WomenBloom talked with Kate McLagan, VP of Client Services for Right Management in Austin, Texas, a large outplacement firm helping people in job transition. Kate has a wealth of information and tips for those of us looking for employment.
Why does it seem so hard?
Kate points out that if you haven’t looked for work in the last few years, or, if your job has always come to you through promotions or head hunters, you probably are out of touch with what it takes these days to conduct a successful job sales and marketing campaign for yourself. Yes, you read that correctly, gentle readers, the job hunt is really a sales and marketing campaign for yourself.
It helps to understand that there has been a major shift in how to think of the job-hunting process. Nowadays, we need to have the mindset of seeing ourselves and our career as our “business.” No longer can we just show up for work, do it reasonably well, and expect it to be there for us as long as we want it. Those who are most successful are proactive and take responsibility for themselves as their own business, even if they are someone’s employee.
It is the era of You, Inc. That means you have to differentiate yourself from everyone else by identifying and cultivating your personal brand.
To understand the job hunt landscape, Kate likes to use the metaphor of an iceberg. The jobs you see—those listed on job boards or Web sites, in newspapers or professional journals etc.—represent at most only 15 percent of the jobs that are obtained. Eliminate the postings that were filled long ago, or the job postings that are just “teasers” (postings that don’t really exist and are meant to keep the company’s name in the public eye) and that number shrinks further. And, since those jobs are visible to everyone, competition for them is bruising.
Tapping into that 85 percent of the hidden job market is the key to your success. How do you do that?
It is a four-phase process:
Phase I: Lay your foundation with diamonds.
Your first task is to thoroughly understand yourself, your core strengths, and your objectives. After all, if you can’t articulate these to yourself, it will be impossible to communicate them effectively to others. Take an inventory of your core strengths and talents, or, as Kate likes to call them, your “diamonds.” These are usually found as the basis for your accomplishments, at the heart of kudos or feedback you get from others, and in the kinds of activities you consider the highlights of your day.
Taking the time to identify your “diamonds” is critical. Not only can you then clearly market yourself to others, but reviewing your accomplishments, performance reviews, and highlights also prepares you for activities that will come later such as networking and answering behavioral interview questions. For example, “Tell me about a time you were able to convert an irate customer into a loyal customer.” Hint: it’s important to think in terms of the issue, the actions you took, and the results you got.
Everything else proceeds from this discovery exercise. That includes your objective, your resume, your one-minute “elevator pitch,” other written marketing materials, and preparation for the interview when it comes.
Phase II: Learn the lay of the land.
Now that you know yourself and your objectives, it’s time to look externally and begin figuring out who your likely targets are. Very different from the old approach of passively waiting to see what floats by on the job boards and company Web sites, this phase consists of networking in the form of informational interviews. Your end game is to identify companies or industries where there may be opportunities.
You already know your objectives and can support them with your elevator pitch and your diamonds, right? You begin working your way through your network by calling friends, neighbors, colleagues, and acquaintances to say you’re in career exploration and could really use their counsel and advice. It’s important to phrase your request as seeking their help and wisdom at this point, not asking if they know of any jobs. During this process, if they have any openings or know of any, and they think you’re a possibility, they’ll suggest it. But otherwise, don’t ask. Approached in this way, 9.9 people out of 10 are happy to help.
Keep in mind that the quality of your questions determines the usefulness of the information you receive.
