Mark Hirschfeld

Oprah Winfrey once said: “helping others is the way we help ourselves.”

That is true for folks who are in the job search.

Back in my days as an outplacement consultant we used to hold a Monday morning session for the job seekers. It was helpful in a number of ways:

• By having it on Monday morning, it got everybody and up and moving, which in and of itself is good,
• Each person shared what went well the week before and what they were planning on doing that week, which helped with reflection and accountability, and
• We also had a time in the meeting when job seekers could ask for help, for insights into an employer or help networking

From my experience, the people who came to the weekly meetings, on average, landed more quickly than those who didn’t.

Find and join a group. Often faith communities or colleges have groups.

And if you can’t fine one, start one.

There are training videos on the web site of my faith community. This content is free: https://www.thetablempls.com/jobresources

The great basketball coach John Wooden once said: “It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts.”

All of us can still learn, and improving your skills is a great way to use some of your time as you conduct your job search. Here are a few resources:

• There’s this fun place you may have heard of called… a library! Call or stop by and ask what classes are available,
• Your local community college,
• Check out possibilities from schools from which you graduated,
• There are lots of online courses available. An example is Coursera, and
• There are paid sites as well, such as MasterClass.

As part of your online strategy, post what you’re learning. This could be a photo of a course completion certificate, or better yet insights you have gained. Prospective employers may value learning about what you’re learning.

There are training videos on the web site of my faith community. This content is free: https://www.thetablempls.com/jobresources

You land the new job. You’re not sure you’ve made the right choice.

Be awesome anyway.

Your new co-workers are, at best, okay.

Be awesome anyway.

The pay and benefits are fine, but you’re not going to get rich.

Be awesome anyway.

This job looks interesting, but you’re not sure there are opportunities for you to grow here.

Be awesome anyway.

It’s a longer commute than you were planning, and that’s stressful.

Be awesome anyway.

There are far more reasons why a new job might not be great, and the temptation would be to mail it in while you look for something better.

If it’s really bad, go ahead and look for another job. But in the meantime give them more than an honest day’s work.

Why?

If you do leave, the worst thing they can say about you is “there goes an awesome employee’.

More importantly, you will have the satisfaction of knowing that even in less than ideal conditions you acted with honor and integrity.

And that’s worth a lot.

There are training videos on the web site of my faith community. This content is free: https://www.thetablempls.com/jobresources

… and you’ll break your mother’s back.”

As a kid I once tempted fate when I was upset with my mom. I stepped on a crack.

Her back didn’t break, but I still avoided cracks.

Irrational thinking, right?

As you consider your job search, you too will need to face some irrational attitudes that may be getting in your way:

• “I’m too old”, or “I’m not old enough”, or
• “I don’t have the right experience”, or “I’m too experienced”, or
• “There aren’t any jobs out there”, or
• “You can’t change industries”.

Although each of these mindsets may have a grain of truth, not exploring an opportunity because of these attitudes may really hurt your search. Your attitudes would be a good to discuss with your coach or job search support group.

Maya Angelou said: “If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.”

What attitude do you need to change?

There are free training videos on the web site of my faith community: https://www.thetablempls.com/jobresources

I’m not going to tell you my age today– there are a lot of candles on the cake!

It is against the law for employers to discriminate against an older candidate. You cannot be asked your age, and if someone does in a job interview I urge you to move on.

What can you do?

• List your educational experiences on your resume, but do not put the year you graduated.
• Most employers will be interested in your last ten or fifteen years of work, so list only those.
• Be aware of language that may signal your age. I still think “groovy” is a fine word… maybe not.
• Look for opportunities where “gray hair” may be of value. One client with a younger employee base was looking to hire a couple of leaders who had more experience in an allied industry; in this case experience/age was an advantage, and
• Keep learning and growing personally and professionally.

If you are older, there are places where your skills and interests will be of value. Find them.

There are training videos on the web site of my faith community and a handout. This content is free: https://www.thetablempls.com/jobresources

You see an internal job post where you work. It looks like a job you would have a real chance of getting, and it fits your career plans. Since it’s an internal post you probably don’t need to do the things you would do for an external post, right?

Wrong.

You should put in as much effort into an internal posting. You’ll want to:

• validate that the job is a good fit,
• prepare a cover letter and resume that is customized to the opportunity,
• network with people who know about the job and can provide good coaching,
• do homework to determine salary, if that information isn’t available,
• practice for an interview so you can tell your story and connect to the job requirements, and
• prepare follow up correspondence after the interview.

All this work may seem unnecessary, but these tasks are all within your control and give you the best chance possible to be successful.

Do the work. Identify needs. Tell your story.

There are training videos on the web site of my faith community. This content is free: https://www.thetablempls.com/jobresources

The objective of a cover letter and a resume is to… get you an interview.

That’s it.

They are not designed to get you a job. That’s what an interview is for.

When it’s clear folks don’t understand this the result is often an overly-detailed cover letter and resume that go on for pages.

I might need an extra beer to read all of this.

Some fields, such as academics, may expect and require the “two beer” version, but most don’t.

As you think about preparing your cover letter and resume, think about the readers, at a prospective employer.  As you understand their needs and requirements, then prepare these documents in a way that meets THEIR needs.

That may mean that you omit things that aren’t relevant, or move things around so they read the most important things first.

Do your homework. Figure out what will be of value to a prospective employer. Then give it to them.

There are training videos on the web site of my faith community and a handout. This content is free: https://www.thetablempls.com/jobresources

A friend of mine was looking at a job posting that had a “preferred skill” of using a certain software application. She didn’t have experience with that application, but had used two others that she thought were similar.

She contacted a friend who had worked with both applications. He told my friend that if she knew the one application that she was 90% of the way to knowing the other. She also went online and found screen shots of the application, which gave her confidence that she was well prepared to learn the new solution.

She listed her experience with the other application, and when asked in the interview told the hiring manager she had reached to someone about how easy it would be for her to learn the new technology.

The hiring manager was impressed she had taken the time to learn about their preferred technology, and told her that “in your case I think you’ve shown you are a great candidate”.

None of us will meet every requirement for a job, but we can make the effort to show prospective employers that some of our gaps can be managed and, in doing so, showcase our candidacy.

I promised 50 posts in 50 days—half way there!

I always wanted to be Indiana Jones, but like him I don’t much like snakes.

I liked that those movies delivered a happy ending, and as a job seeker you’ll need to tell stories with happy endings to prospective employers.

You’ll be often asked to tell those stories when they ask you a question that starts like “tell me about a time when…”

Those happy stories will need to have four parts:

1. What was the problem or challenge you faced?
2. What did you do?
3. What were the results you achieved?
4. What did you learn that you could apply here?

To get ready, write every story down, then learn them and practice telling them. You’ll need several, because maybe an interviewer wants the Star Wars story and not Indy Jones.

People like stories. Give them Indy and Yoda and snakes and light sabers and all.

There are training videos on the web site of my faith community and a handout. This content is free: https://www.thetablempls.com/jobresources

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