How to Find a Great Job in a Lousy Economy or any Economy – Find what you Love

Famed author Harvey MacKay once said, "Find something you love to do and you'll never have to work a day in your life.

This may sound a bit idealistic but there is more to it than meets the eye. When you are out of work or searching for a new job, you may feel you cannot be idealistic about finding a job you will love. But that is exactly when you should be looking for and winning the job you will love. There are a couple of corollaries to this saying.

First, you are more likely to win the job when you are going for a job you will love. When you interview for a job you will love, your enthusiasm comes through in your interview, and you are much more likely to be hired. Interviewers are experienced and can tell when you have the “I don’t really want this job, but it’s a job and I need a job” attitude. Hiring decision makers want people who want to work for them and it is easy to tell in the interview. When they interview someone who really wants the job, they can tell and they are much more interested in hiring you. It is part of becoming the “preferred candidate.”

Second, you are more likely to be successful in a career you love. You will be more passionate about your work and it will show in the results. You will be more engaged in the day-to-day tasks as well as the long-term goals. Your passion will inspire and motivate those around you too.
The temptation when you are looking for work is to find “what’s out there” and submit your resume. Sure, go ahead if it makes you or your family feel better but you should limit the time spent on this activity until you determine what career or position you will love. You are more likely to win that and be successful in it after you start.

Now the question is how to determine what career or position you will love. There are many tools out there to assess two key attributes: what you like and what your good at doing. I won’t cover those tools here (maybe a future post) but the key to finding a career or position you will love is determining the intersection of these two sets of key attributes. It does not have to be a long list of either and the intersection can be just one things but the process is as important as the outcome. Doing the research, analyzing your strengths, weaknesses and interests is the key to narrowing your search and becoming the “preferred candidate”.

Common Job Hunt Myths & Truths

There are many job hunt myths. And there are always lots of people searching for jobs: people who have just graduated, people who have lost their job or people who need a change. All of us have looked for jobs at one point or another in our life. So I find it surprising; almost everyone has been job hunting but still so many myths persist.

Myth #1: Job web sites and search engines have made finding jobs easier. Those technologies have made finding may things easier: flights, hotels, clothing, shoes, electronics and more.
Reality #1.1: Job Boards are almost useless. Hiring is personal.
1.1.1 They have lots of listings that have expired. They do this because the more listing they have the more likely they are to show up in search results.
1.1.2 Popularity is good for job boards to get more advertisers and visitors but not for job seekers. A single job may get hundreds of applicants on a job board.   In a CareerBuilder survey nearly 25 percent of human resources managers said they receive, on average, more than 75 resumes for each open position; 42 percent receive more than 50 resumes.
1.1.3 Recruiters track the source of a candidate and job boards rank last. (Employee referrals rank first).

Myth #2: If you want to work for a specific company, go to their "career web site".  Most companies have some kind of job listing web site, typically a "careers" web site. Combined these list millions of jobs.
Reality #2: These listing are useless (except for keywords used later)
2.1 Most positions are already filled or if not, have a preferred candidate before they are publicly listed. They are only listed because the company requires listing it. So they show things the company was looking for in the past not now.
2.2  Recruiters track the source of a candidate and the company career site ranks low. Because anyone can apply it's not selective. (Employee referrals rank first).
2.3 Applying through the company web site just connects you to recruiters who screen, not the person who makes the hiring decision.
2.4 While it seems fast and easy to use the site to apply, you will be put in the dreaded ATS - Applicant Tracking System. A high tech way to disqualify as many people as possible before the recruiter looks at candidates.

Myth #3: Sending your resume to a company is a good way to get a job. It's easier than ever to email someone that beautiful electronic resume you created. Everyone has email now and it's just a few keystrokes and clicks to send all the wonderful information about your talents and achievements to lots of people.
Reality #3: Emailing a resume to someone on it's own rarely results in a job.
3.1. Just because someone receives it or even if someone asks for it, does not mean they are going to look at it or do anything else with it. Many people feel it is polite to ask for a resume or it's a good way to wrap up a conversation. But most emailed resumes go no further than the recipient's inbox and often end up in their trash. There is little risk of effort in receiving it but there is risk in sending it on or actually making time to talk to people about you. Many people feel forwarding a resume is an endorsement of the person and may not know your work well enough to endorse you to their company.
3.2 They are not likely to be proactive, they already have a job and lots to do.

Myth #4 You can search for a job with just a little effort applied over time.  You can search and apply or even have a bot search for you.
Reality #4: If read the myths above you know this is a low probability method. The real method...

Reality #5: The three most important activities in a job search are networking, networking and networking... more on that in the next post. 

How not to find your first job in a recession

Most new graduates go through the same process when searching for their first job after graduation. They start by searching the internet for positions (Monster, CareerBuilder, Craigslist...). Then they apply online attaching their resume and a cover letter. This is the most common and accepted process and it's a complete waste of your time.

The reason it's a complete waste of time is because everyone else is doing it too. There are thousands of applicants all applying to thousands of jobs. Recruiters and HR professionals now say it's common to get hundreds or in some cases thousands of resumes in response to a posting on Monster or CareerBuilder. Then they use search engines to try and sift through them and find a few candidates to "move forward" in the process. The rest get a pleasant system personalized rejection letter from the applicant tracking system. I don't know about you but I don't like the odds of one in a hundred or worse one in a thousand.

Then the process gets worse. If you make it through the search engines and other filters, you'll get a phone interview. Not one with the hiring decision maker but either an HR representative or other screener. You are still just one of a crowd and many small things can disqualify you. If you make it through the first "phone screen" interview, you may get another phone interview but probably still not with the hiring decision maker probably a lower ranking person in the same department. Again many things can disqualify you. If you make it through the second phone screen you may get an in person screening interview but again still not with the hiring decision maker. If you make it through the in person screening interview, then you may actually get to talk for the hiring decision maker. You'll see me use the phrase "hiring decision maker" many times because this is the person whose opinion matters the most. Another name for this person is "your future boss". This is the only interview where you can actually win the job. Your future boss is not going to let someone else hire you. They live with the decision every day. While the others can only disqualify or pass you along, the hiring decision maker is the one you want to talk with to win the job (and to determine if really want it).

Now realize that before you get to talk to the hiring decision maker there is likely another candidate talking to the hiring decision maker long before you. While you came through the pipe that started with multiple automated and human filters giving the hiring decision maker the impression there are thousands of faceless candidates just dying to take this job, the other candidate was recommended by someone hiring decision maker knows and trusts. While you had to run the gauntlet the other candidate is already fast tracked to the final step. This is the guy or gal you want to be not one of the thousands. This is the preferred candidate. The one they are looking forward to interviewing. The one who’s job it is for the taking. The one who is in the lead and the others have to overcome.

How do you get to be the preferred candidate? Read my next post.