by
The sole purpose of this book is to introduce you to a unique real-life, nuts and bolts, tried-and-true, step-by-step system that has enabled headhunters, insiders, and now you, to achieve greater results in seeking, finding and landing new jobs faster and more efficiently. Forward I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work. —Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931)
Forward
The whirling dervish, out-of-control job market of the 1990s has settled down to one that looks and acts more "normal." While there are still plenty of job opportunities for job seekers in the new millennium, these job openings are not always being filled with the best or most qualified applicants. They are, however, being filled with applicants who use the best and most qualified job search techniques. These techniques will be revealed to you in the coming pages.
Traditional job search methods such as reading newspaper classified ads, attending job fairs, mass mailing your resumé and using the Internet are all viable avenues to further your career when economic times are good! Plenty of jobs in a good market implies a shortage of applicants, and employers become more accessible to applicants—for several reasons. First, as the economy and companies grow, employers must add staff to handle planned expansion. Secondly, they must also hire to replace turnover as their employees leave for greener pastures and promises of more money or better opportunities for advancement with other companies. Finally, retirees must be replaced, and staff is usually upgraded when times are good!
Finding a new job in a slower job market is much more difficult for the average job hunter, especially when there are so many applicants competing for the same jobs. Did I say average job hunter? No offense please! I was obviously not speaking to you since you are currently reading the book that will take you to a level that can land you a job before most other applicants can even get an interview going!
When you put these insider job search tools to the test in this or ANY economy job market, you will be pro-actively getting things done. You will see results every day. There will be ample light in the tunnel for your entire job search. You will be in sole command of how many interviews you want to handle and just how far you want to go.
Frustrated job seekers are disenchanted with online services. Users say the boards often have out-of-date listings and that inquiries go unacknowledged by potential employers. In fact, many users are finding that job hunts conducted solely online rarely produce jobs - a phenomenon made worse by the current economic downturn—The Wall Street Journal, Jan. 2, 2002
The average job hunters are on the Internet sending out resumés right now, hoping and moping and frankly, wasting a lot of precious time.
The economic downturn may have cooled the hiring frenzy, but not the appetite of companies looking for real talent. This book will hand you all the tools that you will need to find a good job in any market. When times are tough and it seems that there aren't enough jobs out there to go around, these tools are especially effective. You will stand out and be noticed by employers and advanced quickly to the front of the line for interviews. In some cases, you will be the ONLY applicant interviewing for a job because no one else will know about that job besides you!
The sheer volume of resumés and applicant information hurled at employers is so overwhelming that entire Human Resource departments have been built just to receive, sort, track, forward and store the applicant data. It is understandable how the Internet has slowed the job hunt/response to a crawl
The Internet is, however, a revolutionary and irreplaceable tool for the job hunter because it puts so much information at our fingertips—and so quickly! How great it is to locate so many job openings and do so much research in so many fields in so little time!
Making human contact with anyone that has posted a job on the Internet is always a pleasant surprise, albeit a surprise as rare as a white tiger nowadays. Even that kind of surprise response from an employer is fading fast as more and more applicants go online to post their resumés and respond to ads. As the volume of applicant information continues to increase on the World Wide Web, you may have to be one of the very lucky ones that get called for an interview.
The same Jan 2, 2002 WSJ article referred to in this e-book says that less than two percent (on average) of all new company hires come from the Internet. I am going to take the resumé and cover letter out of the equation for you.
The block of granite which was an obstacle in the path of the weak, becomes a stepping stone in the path of the strong. —Thomas Carlyle
I strongly encourage you to continue to use the Internet as a primary tool in your job hunt, but remember that the Internet is precisely that—just a tool. Like wax on the skis of an Olympian, the Web can make you go farther and faster with unparalleled precision and accuracy in your job search.
The World Wide Web is, by far, the greatest research tool and personal assistant for job hunters that was ever invented. Combining it with what you are about to learn will make you unstoppable in creating interviews and getting job offers in your field in the coming weeks.
This instructional requires human elements that no e-book can give to you. They are effort and your personal touch. The best job search tactics are those that allow for modification to fit your personal style and needs. That has been a central focus in developing this information. Your having the tools you need, while you retain your individual personality, and your actually applying these tools are all you will need to get some job offers.
So make this information your own and adopt these techniques and tactics by putting your own personal "spin" on them. I am a strong believer in the fact that there is a job out there that is just right for you. It is just waiting for you to find it. Follow this system to find and secure that job. Don't just say, "Hmm, that's interesting." —Do it!
This e-book gives you all the essentials to conduct a successful job search. It takes you eighty percent of the way. The other twenty percent is made up of your motivation and your courage. Are your goals worth it? Then go for it! And good luck!
Table of Contents
1. The Solution
2. Getting Started
3. Planning
4. Make Contact
5. Access the Players
6. Play by the Rules
7. Goals
8. The Script
9. Handle Objections
10. Interview Tips
11. Negotiate Simply
12. Resignation Letter
13. The Counteroffer
14. How to Work a Job Fair
15. The Blockbuster Resumé
16. Sample Resumés
Conclusion
1. The Solution
Do you agree that getting to first base with the employer—the interview—is the primary step to getting a job offer? If you do, and first base is the first interview, second base is subsequent interviews, third base is the offer and home is your first day on the job, then you will concur that the information in this book will help you cover all the bases. The focus of these pages will raise your batting average by getting you to first base considerably more often.
Sending resumés and e-mails and cover letters don't guarantee an interview for you. Written correspondence is tentative, at best, even when applicants are in short supply. In a tight labor market, where there are "too many applicants" in supply, the chances of success are diminished dramatically by using the old-fashioned approach. Send a resumé. Wait. Hope. Mope. Grope.
To land an interview, the hiring manager first must know about your skills, that you are available, and that you want to work for him. I said hiring manager, not a Human Resources or Personnel Department employee or, for that matter, anyone else at the company—with the occasional exception of a friend or relative that is directly wired to the boss. Human Resources or Personnel has a different focus and function than do the hiring managers. HR has an entirely different perspective on hiring people. HR recruiters are taught to screen applicants out, not qualify them in.
The problem of getting an interview with the boss is compounded when too many resumés have been submitted to the personnel office. HR people make decisions about who gets in to see the boss and who doesn't based entirely on the looks of a resumé. They usually pass the top three or four on to the hiring manager for final approval and authorization to invite. Generally, no more resumés go forward to the manager unless no one gets hired from the first batch of interviews. I don't think that you want your resumé sitting in the second or third batch because it didn't get there in time or because it looks like a "close second place" to HR.
Written correspondence is risky at best because of these time delays and quality issues. Your resumé may never even reach personnel, let alone the hiring authority. A resumé can be lost or deleted based on the possibility of human error inflicted from the sheer volume of resumés that companies have to deal with daily in a "fat" labor market. Avoiding Human Resources can be challenging and fun!
If you want to get to first base and the interview, then pick up the phone and call the boss directly! Unfortunately, you cannot get a job unless you actually meet with the boss. It's difficult to get a meeting with the boss and lots of other people without using the telephone.
Simple, you say?
"I paid for this?" Refund! Refund! Refund!
Or…you may NOT think this is so simple.
"Oh no, how can I ever pick up the phone and talk to a complete stranger?"
I am acutely aware that not everyone is comfortable talking to strangers (or anyone for that matter) on the telephone, let alone being the one to initiate the call. When the phone call is on behalf of your career, you become fearful of rejection. Fear of rejection is the main reason that many people will not make these phone calls. When you see how easy it is to eliminate most of your competition in the job hunt by using the following tools, you will never just send a resumé again.
Do not wait; the time will never be "just right." Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along. —Napoleon Hill
I will lay out the steps and even include a few scripts and a lot of tips to make it easier for you.
You are going to be informed and prepared when you make these calls. Being nervous is good because you'll see how your adrenaline can make you more lucid and clear with the employer and give you courage to do things that you didn't think you could do. After you have moved through several of these calls your skills will increase and your confidence will grow. You will get better with each call and you will get some interviews.
Using a written script is the key to being prepared and sounding intelligent on the phone. Every public speaker that I have ever heard or known has a little crib sheet with them when speaking to a group. It is to help them remember key points. They have it with them even when their presentation is memorized and they have given that same presentation dozens of times.
The following scripts are short, to the point, and have one common thread. They are all geared to getting you in for an interview. The employer will never know that you are reading from a script once you are practiced. And so what if he does, anyway? You are showing the employer that you have initiative and that you are organized. Many employers will recognize these implied valuable traits immediately from your call. Bosses have been around long enough to know about the "marketing people call" and you won't be the first one to have ever called this one directly. You might be the first one in a long time, though, and hopefully your timing will be impeccable! Do not be as concerned about what you are saying as much as you are proud that you have gotten off your Internet duff and are saying it.