I love reading biographies of famous successful people. Not movie stars, but people who accomplish things.
I tend to business people, but I have also read about politicians and others.
There are a couple of things that are common with these people. They are all pretty smart and all of them have struggled in their lives before reached success. Overcoming the challenges of their struggle was part of what it took them to be successful.
Finding a job is a struggle. It doesn’t matter if you are executive looking to run a large public corporation or a teenager looking for a part time job. The details of the struggle will be different, but it is still a struggle.
Here are some ideas from some successful people and how their words can be applied to the challenge of a job hunt.
“Men of lofty genius when they are doing the least work are most active.” – Leonardo da Vinci
Let your subconscious mind can solve problems while the rest of your brain and body are doing other things, like sleeping, eating an apple, or showering. Many people before they go to sleep outline their problem just before they go to sleep. They let their dreams come up with a solution.
What can the subconscious do for you? A few days after reading the FaceBook profile of your high school buddy you suddenly remember seeing the name of one of your target employers. But this can only happen if you had identified the list of ideal employers. (A guerrilla job hunting technique)
Inspiration will strike anytime, anywhere, and you need to be ready to capture these ideas. Here are a few ways to make sure you capture it – use the voice recorder in your cell phone, use a pocket notebook, or carry an iTouch.
It doesn’t matter if most ultimately fail, but you are prepared, it could be one of the ideas that will find your way to a new job. A guerrilla job hunter is always testing out new ideas. A guerrilla job hunter is never bored and is really busy.
“You’ve got to think about big things while you’re doing small things, so that all the small things go in the right direction.” – Alvin Toffler
In Dec. 2010 data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor said a job search for the AVERAGE job hunter takes 34.2 weeks – which is pretty scary. Over 8 months. But that’s an average job hunter. What are you doing to make sure you are not the average job hunter? What are you doing to be a Guerrilla job hunter?
Here is the most important thing to remember.
Big Thing in your life is finding a job. Every small action you do today can point in the direction of employment. That’s if you take actions. Don’t sit around doing nothing. That is what the average job hunter does.
I get that job hunting can be a struggle. I get that it can be overwhelming. I get that you might be unhappy. I get you might want to stay in bed. I don’t care about that. I really don’t. I am sure you have somebody who will listen to you gripe and feel sorry for you. Listening to your complaints doesn’t help you, does it? I am only interested in helping youf find a job. I am selfish and uncaring in that way.
From 8:30 in the morning until 5:00 every Monday through Friday, you should be taking an action to get a job. When you are not doing that, ask yourself: Is this moving me closer to a new job? If what you are doing is really not helping (the way I would tell you) stop doing it.
Here are the things to look at when focusing on the job hunt:
- Do your need to be checking Email and Facebook so frequently? Are employers contacting you that often? Would two or three email checks per day suffice instead?
- Are you doing useless errands? I have said that its good to get out of the house to meet people. But, should’t your banking and shopping be done at night? Or at least after a networking lunch or coffee with a person in your target industry?
- How is reading the News or Sports going to help you get a job? Do you really need to sit through 30-60 minutes of bad news on TV each morning and night? I understand if you are a reporter, but if not, how can it help you be employable? You want to have something to talk about, I know that 15 minutes of Radio news and the weekend paper is more than adequate.
“When you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.” – Will Rogers
One of my favorite thoughts comes from Brian Tracy. If what you are doing isn’t working, then try something else. Be honest with yourself. If the approach to job hunting has not generated a least three interviews a week, you are failing. What you are doing is not working. You must be honest with yourself.
Here are the typical dumb things people do and think they are doing smart stuff:
- Focusing only on advertised jobs … Better to have business discussions with people who can make a decision that will help you. People who can create a job for you or introduce you to other managers who can hire you.
- Using “Can you help me find a job” pitch to people … Offer something that will help others say “Yes” — busy people do not help desperate job seekers, but they will help people who are helping themselves and making themselves valuable. I helped somebody yesterday looking for a job at a non-profit , we added a line to their cover letter that said “I want to demonstrate my skills by giving my Office Politics Workshop to your Clients” – how many other people asking for the job made that offer, if they thought of it, they probably waited till the non-profit asked them to demonstrate their stuff.
- Sending A BORING cover and even worse, a useless cover letter – Letters that say nothing and mean nothing. A successful cover letter is written like a sales letter and will paint the picture for employers of the specific results you can deliver. (Get the free Guerrilla job hunting CD for more information)
Are you still wondering what I am talking about – check out my articles, get the Guerrilla Job hunting kit for a step by step process. Here is another idea – Find five people who you know that love their jobs – Ask them how they got their last few jobs. Write it down and you will have 15 ideas that have worked. And, you will be doing some networking with successful people, it will rub on on you. Success comes from success and from taking actions.
“The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one.” – Mark Twain
Some people find it daunting when they start writing their cover letter or sending a message to friends. They just don’t know where to start. So they don’t do anything. (Yup – the guerrilla job hunt system has a few ideas and samples that you can use immediately)
I have some bad news for people who can’t get started. To get hired you have to get do the grunt work. Nobody else cares as much as you do, and if you won’t do the work, who will?
When I have big things to do, I break my big thing into smaller ones, it gets me started — and helps me get done — faster.
Cover letters can be a huge scary pain to write.
Start with a simple simple task first? Write like you talk. Imagine you are on the phone with the employer. What would they want to know? What order would they ask you?
Write it down as if you were answering them. And like they told you in school as a kid, include the question in the answer. The first draft may not be great, but you know have a first draft. You have gotten started.
While this first draft cover letter is probably a huge run-on sentence. Its still a first draft and can be used to create a great letter. Remember, the letter will be answering the questions the person will be asking.
One short cut to getting actions is the Guerrilla Job Hunt kit, its got all the actions you need to be taking.
This is my Monday Morning Job Hunting help. I have taken material provided to me by Kevin Donlin and David Perry, co-creators of the Guerrilla Job Search System.
Kevin and David have been interviewed by CNN, New York Times, Fortune magazine, and the Christian Science Monitor about their method to finding a job.
Get a free audio CD from Kevin and David on how to get your job search into high gear
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