Last week, at the conclusion of another great Chinese dinner at Heng Weng in Palatine, I broke open my fortune cookie, anticipating the kind of message that may drive the rest of my life, seeing as I'm currently evaluating new opportunities to advance my career. Instead, all I got was the cookie...there was no fortune inside. Empty. Nothing. I couldn't even eat the cookie...I had no fortune.
In my opportunity evaluation so far, there are definitely great possibilities. However, for many, the job search can be as humbling as not having a fortune in your fortune cookie. The economy, your experience, your skillset and your approach can determine where along that scale your search will land.
Pick up any “sales skills” book, and the topics will likely contain entries including “Targeting Prospects”, “Gathering Information / Interviewing”, “Proper Presentation”, “Making the Pitch”, “Negotiation” and “Closing”. Now, read that list with your job search in mind…those same topics appear along that process of finding your next place of employment.
In reality, the process of finding a job is one in which you are selling an extremely valuable product…YOU!
Numerous studies have estimated that anywhere from 70% to 85% of jobs get filled before they are ever advertised. And, once they appear in those classifieds or online job boards, the competition is massive. The hirer is faced with a stack of resumes, and makes the decision to bring you in for an interview based solely on your written word.
The process is broken – the hirer doesn’t want that burden and uncertainty, and the candidate doesn’t want to be initially judged solely on what’s on their resume.
Over the past 10 years, I have interviewed (sadly) hundreds of sales candidates for a number of positions. I’ve found this to be true – the best candidates aren’t always the ones with the best resume. And, I know I’ve missed quality professionals because I’ve passed on interviewing them because their resume doesn’t communicate the key skills and experience I’m looking for.
How can you fix this problem? You can start to fix it by looking at the process like a salesperson would look at it – regardless what type of position you’re looking for.
Start your search by taking the time to understand what types of positions and companies you’re most interested in. What’s important to you? Is it a position at a certain level within an organization? Is it a position that is with a smaller company in a certain industry? Is it a position with a company that reduces your commute? It’s a dangerous proposition not to do what you love – success today depends on a level of tenacity and passion for what you spend your life doing.
Once you understand what you want to do, and who you want to do it for, think like a sales person. When a salesperson is trying to sell to a company, they aren’t responding to an advertisement from the company that says, “We need help with a problem your product can help us solve”, right? They need to carefully target organizations, get their foot-in-the-door, and start the selling process. They use marketing (mailings, phone calls, networking) to start that process – and every sales cycle starts with a meeting.
Pick up a book on sales. I teach a short program on this skill, specifically – but you can get that information from a number of sources. Figure out how to write a good cover letter & resume. Find out the individual you want to ‘sell’ yourself to. If you’re looking for a finance position, for example, you don’t want to ‘sell’ yourself to the Human Resources department. It’s probably the finance department you want to sell to. Start high – target the person that heads that department. Send a note – and follow up with a phone call. Your goal of the phone call is to get a meeting (or an “interview”). Make a script for yourself – what are you going to say when you get this person on the phone? Make that script specific to your goal – you want to meet with this person, even if they don’t have an open position. Think through what you’re going to say if the person says, “We have no openings right now”, or “I’m too busy to meet with anyone right now”. You still want to start a relationship with this person. Again, often times a sales person who has a valuable product to sell won’t get an initial response from a customer that says, “Wow, we need that!” The salesperson doesn’t just give up, do they?
Once you’re in the door, review that sales book – and look at the techniques used to ask good questions, present yourself in a positive light focused on the benefit & value you can provide to that organization.
I wish, when I was hiring, more people would take this approach. When a position would open up in my organization, a known entity is certainly the first person I would approach, versus placing an ad and spending hours shuffling through resumes. Even if I didn’t accept the individual's call for an interview if I didn’t have a position open, the person’s resume who targeted our organization would be on top of my list when one did open up.
I can’t tell you what risks you should take. If you’re struggling with your job search, don't wait for your fortune cookie to lead the way. It may take some good-hearted tenaciousness to set yourself ahead of your competition.
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