Communicating Your Value in 3-D

Link Here

A message to the displaced mortgage, real estate and home building professionals and Baby Boomers in transition…There is hope!

Finding a job is a job. Unfortunately, it doesn’t pay very well and it takes time and resources to conduct an efficient job search. Please note I have used the word efficient versus effective. An efficient job search will be an effective job search; the difference is in the amount of resources you are investing to meet your goals. Knowing these three elements Who, What, Where will make your search efficient.

The first element to an efficient job search is “knowing who you are.” This may sound simple enough but not having an understanding of your skill set, knowing what you can do, what you like to do and how to present yourself in all of your communications, TMAY, cover letters, résumé, thank you letters and interviews will be detrimental to your search. Learning who you are requires soul searching, reviewing your career, finding your likes and dislikes and visualizing yourself in your next job. Taking personal preference profiles, reviewing your current résumé, digging out those performance appraisals are ways to reinforce knowing who you are. Do not limit your possibilities by identifying yourself with a job title, look at skills and responsibilities, qualifications and job descriptions. Once you discover who are, you need to know what you want to do.

The second element to an efficient job search is knowing “what you want to do?” Remain in the same field, same job level, transition into a new field, follow an entrepreneur dream, acquire a franchise, these are all options available to the job seeker. Some choices will get you back to work sooner, some will get you into more secure positions and some will have high risk with high potential for success. The choice is yours. I caution that do not make any decision until you are in the right frame of mind, during stressful times you may not be making the most prudent decisions regarding your career choices.

The third element necessary for conducting an efficient job search is “knowing where you want to go”; this may sound basic and fundamental though many job seekers will lose focus on this important element as they react to the job market. Setting a clear direction on where you want to go will help reduce side trips that very rarely work out. Looking at and responding to positions that you have no experience, transferable skills or mandatory education or certifications is a clear sign that your job search is not focused.

Some barriers to determining Who, What, Where and how to overcome them:

A downturn in business in a particular segment, mortgage, construction and real estate are three perfect examples. Due to mass layoffs the prospects for finding jobs in these industries are somewhat limited it is now time to think out of the box and look for a job that would fit your skill set. If you are a former mortgage rep who sold mortgages, you have some level of sales skills, whether prospecting, needs analysis, product demo or closing, these basic sales skills can be transitioned into other sales jobs. Same applies for real estate sales people; you have sales skills, organizational skills (putting that deal back together) you have business development skills, remember those mass mailings and the business you gleaned from that technique, you also have relationship building skills which is critical in this day and age for building long term business success. This applies to other segments in construction and home building, if you can manage a construction project you can manage in other types of business. Assess and transition your skills.

Looking for a salary before finding a job. “Do not turn down a job that has not been offered” is a favorite saying when it comes to job hunting. Get the interview, get the offer then see if you can make the salary work. I am not saying to undervalue yourself. This is often a potential answer to the unemployment situation; “I can always start in a lower position and work my way up” this works if you are looking for the same level position you had in your previous job or maybe a step below anything less than that will result in a lot of effort and little results. Here’s why; even though you can do that job standing on your head you are overqualified, the hiring manager will think that as soon as you found something better you will leave, this costs the company a lot of money, it costs the overqualified a lot of money, esteem and future opportunities. This is a lose/lose proposition. Consider salary but look for the job grade level that is appropriate for your situation.

An attitude of gloom and doom. “It’s the altitude of your attitude that determines your success”. Being out of work, the bills piling up, credit cards being maxed out, stress from friends, family, and loved ones are all real problems and will affect your attitude. Pessimism is an easy partner to befriend during these times. Believe me I understand, I have been there, done that and bought the shirt. True success in your job search will be realized only when you put on the happy face, move forward and attack the problem head on. How to improve your spirits? Motivational books, tapes, friends, families, social organizations can provide needed support. Don’t hesitate to contact the family doctor; depression is certainly not a value added behavior at this time in your life. Also, Networking, as most job searching books and blogs recommend can be an excellent way to improve your spirits, you will have a chance to meet new people, practice your TMAY (Tell Me About Yourself) which if is well written will reinforce how talented you are. If you attend a particular networking event and find it not uplifting it would be a good idea to miss a few meetings, pity parties are not where you need to be right now. Internalize that you are valuable, you have lots to offer and that you have been successful in the past, there is no reason you will not be successful in the future.

High expectations from people and the internet. Having high expectations from people and the internet becomes a barrier to an efficient job search. Believing that people will get back to you, pass your résumé around, that the internet is the only place and method to find a job adds to the stress of job hunting. These are only a few methods of job searching and if you internalize that these methods are not 100% effective) you will reduce the stress. When you learn the proper method of conducting an internet based job search, controlling the distribution of your résumé and understanding the appropriate method of contacting your friends, you increase the effectiveness of your search. Done correctly you will not be disappointed by friends, family or internet. Understand the use and limitations of people and the internet and never be disappointed.

Overcoming these barriers is critical to maintaining focus on Who, What, Where. These barriers will throw you off course, send you meandering about and wasting time, money and energy and get you no closer to your goals.

The Cost of a Job Search, it is expensive and costs time and money you will never get back.

LINK TO GRAPH

Industry Rule of Thumb, it takes on average 4 weeks of searching for each

$10,000 in desired salary, it is probably closer to 6 weeks!

How much does it cost to be out of work?  Financially it is easy to calculate, multiply your weekly salary by 4 and put a minus sign before that number and that is the cost per month of being out of work.  This does not take into consideration the loss of benefits and self-esteem.  A $60K per year job is costing you $5K per month in lost income.  

Four weeks for each $10K in desired salary comes out to $30K cost to find a job, is it worth the investment to cut in half the length of time it takes to find a job ?

Contact me to find out how.