Job seeker – please…read: You say: “15-year, senior-level experience in process improvement and implementation.”

I say: So the hell what?

Why do I say that?

Because that’s precisely what the person reading your resume is thinking. They’re probably nice corporate HR or managment types who don’t say career limiting things, so they won’t say it out loud, but they’re thinking it. Why?

Because 15 years of senior-level process improvement experience is merely a description of the ‘no-duh’ stuff on the job ad. It’s the minimum bar. They’re not excited that you have it: they expect it! Everyone that sends in a resume is saying they have the basic experience.

It’s like everyone in prison saying they’re innocent. Saying you have the minimum is NOT taken at face value, and doesn’t give the reader one tiny scrap of help making a decision about whether you’re worth 30 minutes of interview time.

Think about it. You go to the Ford dealership, withstand the initial ickiness of meeting a car salesman and give him an overview of what you’re looking for. He looks you in the eye, nods his head and says, “All our cars have tires and steering wheels.” What would you say? “Uh great…OK…is there another sales person around I could talk to?”

That’s exactly what’s happening if you open your resume with “15 years of blah, blah…” To tell people you have what they’re looking for at the basic skill level doesn’t mean a thing. Zero. Zip. Nada. Zilch (just to add one more “Z” term for ‘not a damned thing.’) And if you try to spice it up with some concocted verbiage from the Dilbert resume terms generator, or try to make yourself seem ‘extra nice’ by including personal information, you’re just going to get a faster, more vigorous stabbing of the ‘delete’ button.

They’ll probably even feel a justified indignation when they do it!

CONNECT – tie what you do to the results the company wants. Even better, connect it to the pain, greed or fear the individual you’re trying to convince is feeling because they haven’t yet got the result. Then say it – at the TOP of your resume where it’s important.

Not “15 years blah, blah, blah…”

Instead try: “7 solid examples of helping teams eliminate the frustrating, meaningless, stupid work that keeps them from turning the profit the VP’s neck is on the line for.”

Or -

“Three real-life jobs where I helped companies stop pissing off (and losing) customers by finding the holes in their sales and delivery process where customers stopped being interested, and started complaining to their friends.”

Or -

“Instantly stopped huge financial losses in small, newly acquired companies by taking charge and re-inventing work processes to refocus exclusively on dollar-producing activities.”

PLEASE – stop selling tires and steering wheels. You look like an idiot when you do it. It’s not why people buy cars and it’s not going to get you hired. Thus endeth the rant.

I read an article recently by Google Adwords marketing genius Glenn Livingston who was a psychologist in an earlier life. (http://www.payperclicksearchmarketing.com/adwords-marketers-do-you-love-me-enough/)

He initially thought psychology would be like detective work – that his primary task would be to discover the patterns of behavior in his clients and connect the dots to the reason for those patterns. Then he’d lay out the solution, and, viola, problem fixed. Wrong… People would listen to his diagnosis – even agree! But then they would say, “I know – I need to start/stop that behavior.” And that’s where they would stop – at the behavior.

That “I know” was like a fortified bunker against actually doing something. Behind it they could tacitly acknowledge the problem, but never have to move to solve it. What they couldn’t (or wouldn’t) see was the issue underneath causing the behavior. Getting them to change that required one thing – that the client ‘love’ Glenn enough to trust him. Then they would do the work he recommended to root out the causative issue.

For marketers, the issue is the same – can you get clients to ‘love you’ enough to trust you and use your product or service?

Job seekers are in the exactly same boat. If you can’t sell yourself to the real-life human beings making the decisions in a way that tells them you’re trustworthy, real and open, they won’t take any meaningful steps with you… They may read your resume. They may even phone screen you. But that’s as far as you’re getting.

How do you get people to “love you?”

1. Be friendly – this isn’t combat, it’s people trying to solve problems and enjoy life.

2. Speak like an equal – no sniveling or groveling.

3. Know what’s important to them – WHY they need the skills they’re looking for.

4. Focus on them – stop making it all about you.

5. Listen when they speak – and determine to help them in some way no matter what’s in it for you. That’s a good starter list…

But let’s take another page from Glenn today: take a walk today and ask yourself two questions:

A. What am I doing that’s getting in the way of people loving me as I look for work?

B. What could I do differently?

Then make a comment below…the best comment (as judged by me) gets a Java Chip and a free copy of the best career management book I have read.

None of them are what I would call conclusive, but I think they’ll bear out.

A word of caution – many of the job tweets feed the same jobs, so you’ll need to try them, adjust and decide who to follow long-term. So…three reasons why I like Twitter for job seekers:

1. Job faster. I have several indeed.com and other agents set up to look at jobs in the recruiting space. Each of them is set as a ‘daily digest’ feed and that means I see jobs posted today on a list tomorrow. Not so with Twitter…although not all the jobs I want to see get into a tweet, the ones that do I’m able to see (and ostensibly apply for) before anyone who has a daily digest feed. In this market, speed alone won’t get you the work, but it sure can hurt to be seen BEFORE an employer finds 5 people they want to invite in for interviews (and forget about everyone else.)

2. News in snippets. I advise job seekers everywhere to stop reading the news. It’s just so depressing! Job hunting requires enthusiasm, soul searching, lots of hard work…and many other ‘entrepreneurial’ habits. The constant, emotional onslaught of news from every quarter is not only depressing (face it, TV and newspapers are NOT in the ‘good news’ business) but can be addicting.

As the repetitive news confirms your fears, it can lead to or reinforce bad habits. You don’t need it. But on Twitter, I’m able to feed myself what I want to see (even follow a Colorado Rockies tweet), and literally ‘scan’ to see if there’s something I want to see. I can ‘check the news’ in about 45 seconds. And if the existing socioeconomic order collapses, I’m sure it will still make the evening news.

3. Leading edge resources. I’ve been amazed at the number of leading-edge personal marketing and branding resources available. They all quote each other, share with each other, and are building quite a community. I’m convinced that the entire process of people and jobs finding each other is going to change. And on Twitter, you can see who’s leading the charge. Denver job Tweets can be found by going to Twitter.com and typing in “Denver Jobs

Napoleon Hill

Think and Grow Rich

Napoleon Hill’s classic work was the result of interviewing hundreds of the world’s most successful people.

“Rich” for many of them included money, but more importantly revolved around doing their life’s work – living their purpose in whatever circumstances they were in. What he found out is that success originates with “a state of mind, with definiteness of purpose, with little or no hard work.”

His research uncovered people who had taken hundreds and hundreds of paths to success, but all of those paths originated with those three things.

I want you to live your purpose. One of the reasons I do what I do is that on occasion, I see people who, in the midst of the desperate hunt for a paycheck, re-discover themselves and what they want out of life.

And it’s beautiful to watch the delight in their eyes and heart when they discover a place that is right for them. I’d like to see more people do it, and I work every day to help as many as I can.

Riches for those people (and you, if you’re one of them who’s ready to rediscover themselves in their work) will begin just like the people in Mr. Hill’s book – the right state of mind, definiteness of purpose, little or no hard work. If you’re working hard right now, you may be suffering from a lack in one of the other two areas.

The right state of mind is all about turning on internal images of success, abundance and gratitude, and turning off the images of defeat, scarcity and cynicism. I’ll advise you to do what I told my most recent Bobsled Group Coaching folks: one of the best things you can do for yourself is go on a news fast…literally cut off all the bad news that’s so readily available in so many outlets today.

Instead, you should be turning your focus onto your hopes, dreams, friends and all the good things in your life, and all the potential in the world. If you do the same, life will be much more peaceful and, like the gentleman in the quote at the top, you’ll be prepared to see, welcome and follow opportunity because you haven’t pre-defined what it looks like.

And if you add definiteness of purpose – to get an opportunity with unlimited potential for you to live out who you are, then the people and circumstances around you will bend to help you with your mission.

Stop watching the news. You already know you’re unemployed or could be very soon. Start focusing on defining your purpose and goals, and on learning how to express them clearly and proudly. And then keep an eye out for opportunity – cleverly disguised or not.

Like most Americans, I’ve studied this part of our history. But Mr. Shaara’s novel impressed on me more then before the inevitability of what happened. The British Empire landed its subjects in the new world, gave them some support (scant because of  the distances and their own attitudes about colonial expansion), and expected them to create commerce and civilization in the name  of the King.

For more than 100 years those people literally carved a life out of the wilderness. As they did, they learned to build, defend, make decisions and govern themselves because they had to. Those years etched on their collective souls the very core of the independent mindset – that no government, no army, no book or philosophy would grant them life and prosperity. Only they themselves could, with their hands an hearts.

In time, the British Empire simply couldn’t contain the spirit that grew in those people. The box designed for ‘colonies’ of that empire no longer fit: work, remain loyal, create wealth for the mother country, remain subservient and ‘unequal’ to British citizens.

Other parts of the British Empire, where they could exert British might, were ground slowly into submission, the people becoming timid servants. But in this country, and later in others, the heavy hand of servanthood didn’t match what had grown in our hearts and culture. As we carved a life from the wilderness, far from England, we in fact grew naturally independent.

The Declaration of 1776 (included below if you haven’t read it in a while) was a critical step for the colonies on the path that led to autonomy and nationhood. But it was born of sheer necessity, a moving assertion of what already had become true – mentally, emotionally, spiritually and politically we had become a singular people.

As events unfolded, even until the last vote, no one knew for sure if all the colonies would support the Declaration. There was still debate about the right course…submit and remain loyal to the old; or brashly, dangerously step out into the new.

Our world today is one of old boxes; old ways of doing things that no longer fit: Health care; energy; industry; employment; government.

Like the people of that time, people will disagree about the causes and cures for the many issues that we face. Many will look to the saftey of government solutions, or benevolent corporate dictators, or self-proclaimed experts to rescue them. I have my opinon about much of it, but no clairvoyance.

Regardless of anything else, I hope and pray, today, that no one of us (either the governed or the governing) will forget the spirit of independence, a fire that lit so brilliantly in July of 1776.

I believe that spirit propels the human being to the best it is capable of this side of heaven. I believe that independence is the natural state of man. I believe any solution for any problem that denies people the responsibility and rights of independence will fail in due time, and will cause pain and spiritual malnourishment for anyone foolish enough to trade a ‘solution’ for their independence.

Whoever you are, wherever you are today -

*Know who you are.
*Love yourself right where you are.
*Believe in what is possible.
*Work as hard as you can.
*Rely on yourself.
*Keep yourself independent in heart and mind.
*Carve out of the world what you need from it – expend yourself gloriously in learning and work.

In doing so, you’ll create a fire that warms you and those around you.

Scott

****************************************************************

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America.

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States.

To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

Let’s take a minute to step back and talk about credibility.

Buyer’s today (especially hiring managers) are skeptical. One recent study said that most Americans today see 15,000 advertising pitches per day…signs, on the web, in magazines…

We are literally besieged with marketing messages we don’t believe.

Most bounce right off. We’re so inundated we actually build mental filters to make sure we can function.

The messages that get through? Ones that match a need, and that establish credibility instantly. Our ‘inner skeptic’ will almost instantly eliminate messages that aren’t instantly credible.

How does a resume writer establish credibility?

Primarily by presenting a well-structured argument.

Most resumes do not. They are flaccid, boring recitations of history that are primarily fluffed up with big words you’d never use in a conversation, or some clever use of formatting.

I teach clients how to write a resume that mirrors accepted practice in the direct-marketing world. After all, the primary purpose of a resume is to get you in the door, so ‘salesmanship in print’ should be something were all after.

If the word “salesmanship” makes you shudder, then fear not: all you have to do is arrange the data in a more compelling, logical way (and do a little math) and you’ll have it.

A good sales argument has these three elements:

• A Promise: from you, to the buyer, that you understand his need, how he feels about it and are going to do something.

  It’s a statement of intent: “I can help you accomplish X.” In a resume, we talk about past employers, but the promise is still there. After all, the fundamental bed-rock of evaluating potential employees is that past performance is the best indicator of future performance. If you did it once, you can do it again.

• Claims: statements about all the ways your ‘product’ fulfills the promise you just made.

  This is the normal stuff in resumes – the who, where, what and when. But it should be re-purposed: each little piece of data becoming a structural support for the promises you make, so that it’s not just a data dump, but a well-crafted argument.

• Proof: something that says the argument isn’t just in your head, but that other people will verify it works as advertised.

  In resume writing, we’re used to some kinds of proofs – like numbers (“Sold $8M worth of widgets”) or impressive facts (“100 %Compliance with ISO 90089 Standards). But there are other ways to ‘prove,’ like the use of great testimonials inside a resume or cover letter.

If you’re like most people you’re making a lot of claims in your resume. But there’s no implicit promises (those are the new headlines in your resume) or any objective proof.

If you want to master credibility, learn to structure your resume arguments with these three elements, and you’ll start to improve your response rate.

How do you make sure you don’t pull a “Tommy Boy” and kill the selling opportunity you’ve just created

One of the most obvious ways to ensure that you interview well is to have the right mindset walking in the door.

As a professional interviewer, I can usually tell within a few minutes where someone’s head is: are they desperate for a job, are they hiding something, do they care about work anymore…

The right mindset is a mixture of four different things.

• You are an equal to the person who is interviewing you.
• You are relaxed because this isn’t the be-all, end-all of your existence.
• This is about finding out the truth, not selling yourself.
• Focusing when you answer – short, crisp, story-like answers with detail win the day.

Let’s look at each one individually.

The First Part of the Interview Mindset – Be an Equal.

The first part of the mindset is that you are an equal to the person who is interviewing you.

It is easy to think that subordinating yourself is the right thing to do – you think that by being overly deferential to someone that they’ll pass you along to the next level. That is rarely the case, and even if it was, you should consider the implications of being on a team with someone who thinks your role is to be subservient.

In my opinion, anyone who is worth working for wants for their team members to establish mutual respect for each other as they figure out how to get the work done. That doesn’t imply you being subservient.

Of course, you should treat everyone you meet with respect, and care about them enough to show interest in them. That includes the receptionist, HR or administrative staff, interviewers, or managers. Simply asking, “How is your day going today?” shows interest and helps you break the ice.=

But remember that the strong manager wants a mutual bond – you must act as though you’re worthy of respect…that WHO YOU ARE is deserving of respect because it is. That does not mean acting snobbish, superior or showy. It means acting with an inner confidence that demonstrates that you are self-sufficient and whole in and of yourself.

To help with this aspect, remember: the person who is interviewing has a secret desire – he or she WANTS you to be the “right one” – if you walk in with the right attitude and do your homework, 90% of the time they’ll give you a fair shake. That is true for team members, hiring managers, executives and even HR people or recruiters. They may ask tough questions and it is their job to evaluate you – but they WANT you to be “THE ONE”

• They want to like you
• The want to hear the right words come out of your mouth
• They want to feel like you have the same values and perspectives they do
• They want to feel like you’re going to be a valuable, personable addition to their team
• They want to get the interviewing over with and focus on successful completion of the work at hand…just like you

Take advantage of that natural, human desire to want to like a person you’re talking with. Convince them you’re confident and calm and worthy, and they will want you even more, and the actual evaluation process will be much easier.

The Second Part of the Interview Mindset – Relax.

An interview is not the be-all, end-all of your existence, regardless of the outcome. It’s not a pass-fail exam, nor is it a referendum on your life, your personality, your value or your abilities.

It is a conversation with someone who’s trying just as hard to find the right fit as you are, so relax. Nothing is gained by being nervous. Here are two relaxation techniques that work for me:

1. I have a ‘pre-shot’ routine:
   1. I make sure I know where I’m going and that I can get there with plenty of time to spare.
   2. I commonly show up 30 minutes early and take a walk before I go in. A little walk helps me to clear my mind and prepare myself emotionally and mentally
   3. I go into a restroom (even a public one at a nearby fast food restaurant) and check my clothing and appearance so I have no doubts at all about how I look.
   4. Then in the interview itself, I relax by taking a deliberate approach to answering questions. I do this by taking a contemplative pace:
      1. I look the individual in the eye as they ask questions.
      2. When they’re finished speaking I nod and look away for a moment (as if composing the answer in my head).
      3. Then I take a deep breath and look back up at them to answer.

That method usually earns me 4-5 seconds before I answer each question. I almost always answer using a story of an experience, so this helps me find the right story and formulate it in my head. It also helps me relax, remember who I am, and answer confidently.

Rely on the work we’ve done to date – you know WHO YOU ARE and what kind of job fits you, so trust it. A person who knows WHO THEY ARE can relax and move confidently because they’ll know the right thing when they see it…and the wrong thing as well.

The Third Part of the Interview Mindset – The Right Goal.

You should walk into each interview with a specific goal. The goal is not to get another interview. The goal is not to get an offer.

The goal is to find out the truth about whether this is a place where WHO YOU ARE is valuable, or whether it isn’t?

If the truth is that you belong there, you’ll move ahead – confidently, calmly…they’ll schedule you for the next step before you know it.

If it isn’t, you’ve saved yourself from ‘selling’ your way into a job where you don’t fit. If you find yourself getting salesy, stop immediately.

If you fit on the manager’s value scale, but you don’t get the skill set portions of the job requirement, you’re still in the running for other opportunities down the road or in other parts of the company because you didn’t try to force anything.

When you put pressure on yourself or the other person, you’re selling yourself in a way that is either going to put the interviewer off, or cause you to make a mistake and say something they will use against you.

The Fourth Part of the Mindset – Focus When You Answer.

Most of the time when a candidate blows an interview, it’s because they don’t answer questions in a way that helps the interviewer connect the candidate’s experience with the need at hand.

That seems illogical since there probably really is a connection – but how you answer often is the culprit, not whether you can answer.

Often that’s a result of unfocused answers that make you seem unprepared, disinterested or just plain long-winded and boring.

Any time an interviewer asks you a question about your experiences and background, they’re really interested in three things: that the situation, actions and results you got match what they need someone to do in their job. Below in the Answers Section we’ll cover these, but for now suffice it so say the best way to answer questions is to be prepared to give short but complete answers that offer relevant, crisp data.

Get to it – connect your experience to the need and stop beating around the bush!

In short, the interview mindset is:

• Remember WHO YOU ARE and respect yourself so that you come across like someone they would want as a team member.
• Relax and approach the interview calmly so that you don’t seem suspiciously over-eager or nervous.
• Remember the interview is about the truth, not about selling yourself. Don’t come across salesy or you might sell yourself into a job that isn’t right.
• Remember to focus on short crisp answers so the interviewer can easily connect the dots between what you’ve done and what someone needs you to do in the job.

Common Salesy Behaviors That Automatically Sour Interviews:

Convincing. You’re not there to verbally convince anyone, except with the validity, character and content of questions they ask in the interview. Don’t ‘sell’ people, let the facts do their work.

Hidden meanings. A lot of interviewers spend their time trying to figure out the ‘meaning’ behind the questions asked…don’t go there. Just answer the question and then let the interviewer guide you to the next question. You’re not there to trick or outsmart anyone, you’re just there to answer the questions and seek the truth.

Avoiding the unpleasant. There may be things about YOU that you think an employer may find unpleasant. Guess what…they’re going to find out eventually unless you commit to a total change in that area. So find ways to talk about those things in ways that help advance the cause of ‘truth’ in the relationship. If the truth eliminates you, that’s OK…better to get it out now than have to live through a train wreck later.

Wanted: candidate for short-term role as job seeker.

Overview:

Starting from where you are, build a solid network of friends, relatives, former co-workers and recruiting agencies, and build the self-marketing tools and practices necessary to get leads and land a job. Then continue to build relationships with that network in case you need them again in the next few years.

Main Responsibilities:

• Maintain a professional attitude at all times – your next boss could be one person away from whoever you’re in a room with.
• Keep yourself motivated and sharp between long bouts of boredom and self-doubt – it’s the little things and persistence that count.
  • Get up frequently and do something to boost your energy level: deep-breathing exercises, walks, smart snacks.
  • Completely ignore bad news as often as possible…be accountable and take action no matter what the idiots on network news are saying about the economy.
  • Be good to yourself. Quit doubting yourself. Stop staring like a wounded animal at all the qualifications you don’t have, and sell the best things about you.
  • Love your family and friends, even if they think you’re losing it.
• Find jobs to apply to using any and every means necessary through direct application, or contact with people who may eventually need your skills.
  • Work the job boards on a daily basis, even if your eyes hurt and your back is killing you from sitting at the kitchen table in a straight-backed chair.
  • Find new sources for jobs off the boards – direct marketing lists, twitter, LinkedIn groups, networking events and market to them like a starving, wanna-be entrepreneur.
  • Find the best recruiters and staffing companies in your niche and sell them on you.
• Communicate your value…create a marketing-savvy resume (and other marketing pieces) that you can alter easily to fit the circumstances that proves your value to the reader simply and effectively.
  • You may need short-form ads, email sequences, phone scripts…things that don’t activate the “resume rejection reflex” in almost everyone.
• Network – and not just with other job seekers, but with professionals in your sphere, your potential boss’s sphere and anyone else you can think of that’s employed in a job that deals with something you do.
  • In-person networking when you can.
  • Social networking – Linkedin Q&A, Blogs, twitter, etc.
  • Find clever things to say to people you don’t know so they remember you when they hear about a job. It’s not clever to send your resume to people who don’t know you who may not have a job open.
• Develop and execute well-designed follow-up touches that make you seem like a valuable, fun-to-be-around, living human being, not another job seeker.
• Sell yourself well:
  • Remember this isn’t about you, it’s about them – find and sell to their needs, quit blubbering on about yourself.
  • Interview often and well, maintaining with a positive demeanor and dress as if the outcome of the interview depends on it. Because it does.
  • Do your homework – no salesperson succeeds without research, product and customer knowledge.
  • Overcome objections – find out what employers are going to ‘knock you out for’ and fill in the gaps well enough to talk past the objection in an interview.
  • Investigate any opportunity down to the last detail. Be prepared to offer yourself as a contractor, full time employee or whatever the need is.

Required Skills:

• The ability to see and ‘frame’ the job from the employer’s perspective – what do they want to have happen?
• Verbal and written communication, with a firm grasp of writing like a real human being, not a resume writer
• Self-starter – can stay motivated even when you want a Scotch at 10:00 a.m.
• Whatever you did in your last job (plus 18 other skills you know no one has)
• Expert memory: remember the titles and job descriptions of hundreds of jobs you sent a resume to “just in case” someone calls for an interview

You know – those little inconsistencies in something you want to succeed at. You don’t do well. And it eats at you, and then you do even worse. And then suddenly you realize you’re in a black funk that’s squeezing you from the inside.

I was putting a club away when I realized I was really down on myself for blowing a few chip shots in a row. I caught myself thinking. “Well screw it, I’ll just stop keeping score now and maybe the beer cart lady will come by and I’ll just get tipsy and break out the sarcasm.”

But I stopped myself.  “No. I can enjoy myself and still continue to try to do well, without kicking myself around for something as silly as a few mis-hit shots with a pitching wedge.”

Over the last few years I’ve been studying and practicing better emotional and mental habits. I’m convinced that the external results we see from people who seem super-human in some endeavor (Michael Jordon, Tiger Woods, Nolan Ryan to name a few examples from Sports) are a walking demonstration of better internal habits – especially re-programming their inner voices of doubt or the familiar but poisonous temptations of settling for something besides what we reeeaaaallly want the most.

I believe what puts them in a class of their own is mastery of their expectations and inner dialogue. Occasionally I hear someone say Tiger Woods is arrogant…well I don’t know him, but I think what some people see as cocky is just the outward signs of someone who knows that he’ll succeed or not based on how he treats himself internally…and he’s decided he’s going to tightly manage himself to give himself the best chance of regularly winning that he can.

I’m not there by any stretch of the imagination, but as I practice, I try to remember:

1. I am neither my worst failure or my best success (from Maxwell Matz’ Psycho Cybernetics…a book you should read if you’re interested in this stuff), I just am. I can choose every minute of every day how I’ll react to whatever happened in the minute before. If I let something bad force me into errors on the next action I take, I’m the only one to blame. If I let something good I did keep me from trying my best, that’ s on me too.

2. Expectations are powerful. If I don’t do well at something and start telling myself, “Well, that’s what you should have expected…that’s how it always goes for you,” then I know I’m in a dangerous place. Sports teams (like the Colorado Rockies right now, and during their magical run late in the 2007 season) learn quickly that expecting good things can often spark them, no matter what has happened in the past.

3. I need to be more methodical about mental preparation, just as I do with other skills. In baseball, there’s a saying for players who are in a hitting slump: “Don’t take it out of the dugout.” In other words, don’t let some setbacks in one area of your game seep into your attitude about how you do things in another area – or that one may go downhill as well. Many players literally see the top step of the dugout as the line – when they cross it, they clear their minds of whatever just happened at the plate (good or bad) and get ready to play defense on the field.

It was a quiet, inner, wonderful lesson yesterday. I hit 47 on the front nine, but when I caught myself on the 7th hole, and put myself back in a ‘one shot at a time’ frame of mind, things turned. Hit a 42 on the back…not Tiger-Woodsian, but hey – 5 shots better, and I hit some really fun ones, and enjoyed myself a heck of a lot more.

So back to you…

I know how demoralizing job hunting can be – so my hope today my friend, is that you’ll take care of yourself. You’re worth it and  you’re doing as well as you can.

* Remember who you are. You’re not responsible for the economy, your last company’s decisions or the amount of competition you’re facing. Get better at the things you do, but absolutely DO NOT let the difficulties you’re facing define you. You are neither your worst day or your best. Stop feeling guilty, responsible or doomed…

* Work with positive anticipation. Even (as the great Robert Ringer says) you have a positive anticipation of a negative result. Use the probability of getting rejected to drive you to using better methods, different approaches, edgier marketing. Put a smile on your face every morning  and tell yourself your opportunity is literally around the corner. Then do something to get noticed that no one else will do. (And most people won’t – the thing that confounds me the most is that many people see other people get back to work with crazy, outside-the-lines marketing and yet refuse to try it…!)

* Get methodical about keeping you attitude in the right place. If you’re like me (trying to recover from years of self-defeating emotional and inner dialogue habits), then take three times every day to set yourself back on the right path. I do a morning quiet time, a walk in the early afternoons and a ‘clear my mind time’ in the evenings before I engage with my family. If you have to, put a chart up and give yourself three gold stars a day when you remember until you build the habit.

You’re a beautiful, wonderful human being and you’re going to be OK. Think of a positive, expectant mindset as another tool in your arsenal, a powerful one. Use it…

One of them said, “I’m so bored sometimes…I wish there was a Job Description for being unemployed.”

So we decided to build one -

Want to participate? Just add to any or all of the sections below. Be funny, be serious…I’ll incorporate the best and publish it next week.

Title:

Overview:

Main Responsibilities:

Required Skills:

Here’s a few starters:

Title: Job Seeker

Overview: Starting from scratch, build a solid network of friends, relatives, former co-workers and recruiting agencies, and build the self-marketing tools and practices necessary to get leads and land a job. Then ignore said network until you need them again

Main Responsibilities:

• Looking at online posts until your eyes hurt and your back is killing you from sitting at the kitchen table in a straight-backed chair
• Finding clever things to say to people you don’t know
• Bookkeeping without incoming funds
• Networking with other job seekers
• Writing, re-writing and editing your resume (and other people’s, even if yours doesn’t work)
• Keeping yourself motivated and sharp for interviews between long bouts of boredom and self-doubt

Required Skills:

• Verbal and written communication – bilingual in English and official resume verbiage
• Self-starter – can stay motivated even when you want a drink at 10:00 a.m.
• Whatever you did in your last job (plus 18 other skills you know no one has)

Have fun!!