The employment market today is tough and about to get tougher. The standard means of getting a job are usually not enough, even when times are not tough. As the former CEO of a very successful career consulting firm, with a placement record of over 99%, I can tell you what you are doing isn't nearly enough and how you are doing it isn't nearly good enough.
We always had to start with the clients attitude and you should start with yours. Just how much are you prepared to alter your current lifestyle to get a job? Will you pull up your roots and move, for instance. Would you go from an office job to one where you spend a majority of the day outdoors? Are you willing to completely change your career track? Would the prospect of having to leave you family for lengthy periods of time be acceptable? These are questions that need to be answered, most often with your family's input, before you can even begin to look at the vast job marketplace that lies before you. How much are you and your family willing to change, if necessary, to find a good job? Once you have those questions answered you can begin to identify your job market.
The next step is to assess your current situation. Having a little money coming in is better than having no money coming in so maybe a temporary job is called for. If so, my first bit of advice is to swallow your pride. It makes no difference if you were an executive fairly high up on the food chain or a janitor in an automotive plant, what you are now is unemployed, and you need to take any job offered that can bring in a little money. Keep in mind that the playing field has been leveled and the janitor is now competing for the same entry level job you are. If you are married and your spouse has a better chance of landing a temporary job than you stay at home and let him or her go to work.
The reason I am suggesting this is that there is nothing more depressing than sitting at home thinking about your troubles and not having a thing to do. Some people will suggest you do busy work around the house, or volunteer at some non-profit simply to avoid that situation. Don't fall into that trap. Your one and only concern should be to develop income, any kind of income. If you do so you have just taken the first step to getting back to where you want to be. If you did what I suggested previously about a career plan you already have a goal, albeit it a rather hazy one. That's fine, a hazy goal is better than no goal at all.
While you are applying the financial band-aid of temporary, maybe even humiliating employment, you now have some major research to do. How do you identify your job market? Where and what are the companies you need to contact in order to reach the holy grail of job seekers, the employment interview? The information you seek can be found in either Standard and Poors or Dun and Bradstreet directories, both to found on line or in your public library. Start with page one and read what they have to offer very carefully. Using their codes, learn to isolate those companies that tie in with your experience. It doesn't have to be a close fit just similar in nature. What you will find is the nature of the company, a list of their executives and a lot of other information that might or might not be valuable. What you need to do is to make a list of the pertinent information, names, addresses, telephone numbers plus anything else that might be valuable for a contact.
This is the time to think about your job market. Is it worldwide, national, regional, local? The smaller your market the less chance you have of getting an interview. I once had a client that absolutely did not want to live in the midwest. My advice to him was to not turn down a job he hadn't been offered. It turned out he did interview with a midwestern company and found out they were going to open a plant in California and that's why they wanted to talk to him. And he was hired. My advice to you is the same I gave him - don't turn down a job you haven't been offered and keep your market as large as you can.
When I said that you had a lot of research ahead of you I meant it. You will eventually end up with a list of potential employers and their top executives. You might be asking yourself how many do I need? Our clients were mandated to compile a list of a minimum of 500 companies and you should do the same. Personally, in these times, I would recommend at least 750. Now you have a job market!
This is probably the time to dispense with some employment myths. The first is the belief that you have to go through the human resource person because that's company policy. If you're trying to get an entry level position that might be true. But if you have some substantial experience, especially on the executive or sales level, don't even think about it. You need to communicate with the ultimate decision-maker and that ain't the human resource manager. You may ultimately end up in their office but it should be because their boss suggested it. Another reason to avoid this office is that in times of high unemployment, the poor soul may be getting a thousand resumes a day across their desk. Do you really want to be number 722 of those resumes and do you really think yours will be read?
Before the days of the internet and e-mail, if you really wanted to communicate with someone you called or wrote them a personal letter. Not a form letter, a personal letter, written to them and especially for them. Perhaps a little antiquated but effective. So, what you are going to do, after you have compiled your "hit list" of companies, is to compose a letter, one page only, about you and why you are writing. Now think about this. If you want to impress someone, a potential date for instance, you really need to resort to a little bragging. You certainly don't need to point out all you bad points, if you have any. So think about the most impressive of your accomplishments while you were employed and give a one or two sentence review. For instance, "while working in the sales force of ABC Company I increased sales in my territory over 50% in less than a year". Your accomplishment can be small or large just so it's an accomplishment. If you can't think of any, don't be discouraged, just skip that part of the letter.
Your letter will be accompanied by your resume - another huge pitfall in the world of employment. We always developed the resumes for our clients but you can do your own just as well. First, no more than a page and a half. Second, list the names and addresses of your last 3-4 employers and describe what they did - no more. No endless litany of your duties and responsibilities, just your job title and dates of employment. People reading your resume are not interested in what you did for someone else, they are interested in what you can do for them.
Next list every single transferable skill you can think of under, what else, transferable skills. Every computer skill including every bit of software you have worked with, all management skills, people skills, mechanical skills if they apply. These skills are what the person reading your resume is buying. This is the time to tell you never, ever lie on your resume. Believe me, it will come back to haunt you.However, a slight enhancement of your skills might be acceptable but you had better be prepared to back it up.
Perhaps the best thing you can put on your resume are comments from other people, preferably past employers or supervisors, that say good things about you. For the lack of a better term, put them under the heading of What Others Say and make sure they are close to direct quotes and always include their title. Ask for them and you shall receive. Believe me, it really impresses people. Round your resume off with the usual personal and educational history and you are ready to mail your 750 personal letters to 750 CEO's. Most of them will be shifted down the ladder but that's a whole lot better than the alternative I have described and the numbers game is definitely in your favor.
