Can You Execute a Professional Job Search? Probably Not!
Can You Execute a Professional Job Search? Probably Not!
Why would I say something like that? Experience. I spent my working life hiring, training, mentoring, and growing people. In 2008, during the Great Recession, I constructed and executed a series of unemployment seminars. I expected to help a handful of people in my surrounding area. I ended up training over 180 with a success rate of 95%.
Early on, I learned two things about my students couldn’t
- Most of them were pretty good at their previous jobs. They were just caught in a bad situation.
- The vast majority of them were totally inept in the job search. Of the people I work with, about 10% could conduct a professional job search on their own. Oddly enough, they were all the ones who got the most out of my seminar.
Why are people so bad at the job search?
The answer is pretty simple; we were never taught. Think about it. It’s not taught in college. It’s not taught in grad school. Yes, many universities have college placement offices that the undergraduates rarely visit. When they do, they often find that the information that they have is basic and not what they need to succeed. So, we wander around, get a job, get promoted, and just pray that we will never get laid off. And then comes something like 2008.
What is a “Professional Job Search”?
When somebody approaches me telling me that they’re laid off, they always say something like “I’m going to take a day or two to update my résumé and my LinkedIn profile, then I’m going to start sending out résumés on the job board”. They’re very surprised two months later when, after sending out 100 or 200 resumes, they have nothing to show for it.
A professional job hunter takes a different approach. He goes through five steps:
Identify. This person is not looking for a job. She is looking for the “Job of her Dreams.” She does extensive research and is looking for the right job, at the right company, at the right location, at the right income level, with a reputation for treating their people well and exceeding their objectives. It’s a lot of work, but it’s far better than busting your tail to land a job at a company that ends up being a total disappointment to you. “Get hired in haste, repent in leisure.” After doing your due diligence, you may come up with something like this: I’m looking for an entry-level marketing job in the pharmaceutical industry in Northern New Jersey. I’d like a salary of $70,000 or more and a Glassdoor rating of 9 or above.”
Find. You start your research to identify anywhere from 2 to 30 companies that might meet your requirements.
Obtain. That’s the whole job search process: 10 different steps that you have to master. It’s a rare job hunter who does this. You might be thinking, “That’s way too much work just to get a job.”And you’re right. However, it’s not just a job you’re after. It’s getting the “Job of Your Dreams”. This is your springboard to success. When you become a professional in the job search, you will have mastered several skills that you will use for the rest of your life. Here are the next places where you’ll use those skills.
Retain. You don’t want to just get a job. You want to make sure that you keep that job for a long time.
Thrive. This is the career path you mapped for yourself so that each year, you learn a little bit more, become more valuable, increase your income significantly, and rise in the ranks.
What’s the payoff?
I’m convinced that someone who becomes professional in the art of the job search will continue to use all the skills in retaining and thriving in the job of her dreams. The person who has an arsenal of professional job searching skills will use them to increase their lifetime income by an amount between $500,000 and $3 million.
Let’s take a simple example. Someone who graduated from college recently goes to work for $60,000. If they stay in the job for 43 years – that would be to age 65 – and if they get an annual increase of just one percent, their lifetime income will be 3.3 million dollars. But it gets better. If a person is a good worker and obtains an annual increase of 3% per year, by the end of their working life, they will be earning $5.1 million dollars. That’s an increase of $1.8 million.
Now, I’m sure you realize you’re never going to see all that money. It’s decreased by taxes, Social Security, etc. Actually, you’re going to see a lot more money than that. When you go to work for a company, you are normally eligible for such things as commissions, bonuses, stock options, etc. In many jobs, these additions dwarf the salary. If you are a superior performer, your lifetime income could well be between $10 million and $50 million.
Full disclosure: these types of rewards don’t apply to everyone. They are reserved for people who perform in a superior manner, who have mastered all the skills of the job search and career management, and are constantly taking the right steps to provide significant value to their organization. It’s up to you if you’re that person. I can help.
My mission in life is to help people become professionals in the arts of the job search and career management. I will be regularly putting out other documents like this to provide hints, advice, and warnings about the job environment and success.
I hope I can be helpful to you. To learn more about me, just click here to go to my website.
