Who Is in Control Here? | How to Shine at Work

Taking control of your job search means that you shift your focus from waiting for a job to come along that sounds right to conducting a search for a job that is right. It means that you take control of where you look and what you look for, in an effort to find that right fit. It means that you are less inclined to be disappointed by the lack of response to your efforts and more inclined to decide where you want to work and how you want to fit in there. It also means that you will be tapping into the unpublished job market—a process that goes far beyond searching the job boards.

The Unpublished Job Market

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the job market can be divided into two categories:

The formal, published job market. These jobs are typically publicized through newspaper advertisements, recruiting agencies, and job boards. This formal, published job market constitutes about 25 percent of the available jobs.
The informal or unpublished job market. This includes those job openings that are filled without being advertised.

To access the unpublished job market, representing about 75 percent of the total job market, you have to network (see the discussion in item 4, of the next section).

For an example of how you can tap into that unpublished job market, take Brett’s case. (The story of Brett’s boss taking credit for Brett’s work was described in Chapter 2.) Brett is a lifelong networker: He attended industry events, conventions, and educational seminars, and he consistently attended our Los Angeles Executive Networking Roundtable meetings (see Chapter 15 for a link to more information on these meetings). Brett made a point of getting to know the others in the room, and he worked to develop relationships with the people he met.

During one of our meetings, Brett met Gary, another executive who was developing a network to land his next position. Gary had been a CFO, and he was interested in trying to go in a new direction by purchasing a franchise. His requirements were simple: that the franchise operation be financially healthy, that it be close to home, and that it involve his long-time passion: cars.

As Brett and Gary shared information about what they each wanted, they talked about how they could help each other. Gary mentioned that a friend of his, the CEO of a Los Angeles–based diversified services company, was looking for a new general manager to run day-to-day operations and oversee the firm’s West Coast operations. Brett knew of the company; in fact, he had already targeted it as one that he would like to learn more about as a possible next step in his career. Brett asked if Gary could arrange an introduction to the CEO; a luncheon meeting was held, then a dinner meeting—-and within 2 weeks, Brett received a job offer. The job had not been published. Gary was aware of it only because his friend had mentioned it.

As it turned out, Brett’s brother owned a franchise that he was interested in selling. The franchise, an upscale automotive repair and maintenance shop, was just what Gary wanted: automotive-based and close to home. Gary made an offer to purchase; Brett’s brother accepted.

Mastering the Routes to a New Career

Regardless of your means of entry into the career transition process, there are four well-known paths to landing a new job:

Responding to job postings
Direct mail campaigns
Executive recruiters, employment agencies, and search firms
Networking

Each of these four methods is an important piece of a great job search campaign, but some have a bigger return on investment (ROI) than others. First, let’s review each component.

Responding to postings. This is usually the first order of business for someone in transition. Most people consider responding to Internet postings to be the updated version of checking the newspaper want ads. Although it is not the most effective job-hunting method, responding to job postings is relatively easy: You point your browser at your favorite job listing web site, apply a few filters, and review the list of jobs that match your criteria.

The good news is that there are plenty of jobs listed; the bad news is that many of those jobs may be dated, and you may not receive any reply to your application. About 10 percent of job hunters find their next assignments through this process, so spending some of your job-hunting time searching the job boards is wise; spending too much time doing this is counterproductive.
Direct mail campaigns. This is another relatively easy process. A good direct mail campaign starts with a target list of companies, a great r sum , and a cover letter that you can alter for each situation. If you prepare a direct mail campaign yourself, your direct expenses will include paper, printing, and postage, and your indirect expenses will include the time involved in researching the companies to target. It is important to know that you should expect one interview (with a hiring manager, not a Human Resources representative or recruiter) for every 1000 unsolicited r sum s you send out. That makes the direct mail process the least productive of the standard job search techniques.
Executive recruiters, employment agencies, and search firms. About 10 percent of job seekers find their next assignment through recruiters and search firms. Even so, finding the right recruiter can increase your chances of success. There are several separate and distinct categories of recruiters, and it is important for you to know the difference.

Executive recruiters represent the employer. They are specialists, and they do a great deal of research to find the best three or four candidates, whom they present to an employer for placement. They are paid a higher fee than agencies, and most of them are engaged on a “retainer” basis, that is, they are paid a fee whether or not the candidates they present are hired. Retained executive recruiters rarely advertise, since they most often present candidates who are not currently looking for employment (that is, they present only people who are currently employed). This may mean that those people who are in active career transition (unemployed) will not be considered for any of their opportunities.

Another category of executive recruiter is the “contingent” variety. A contingent recruiter receives a fee only if the candidate the recruiter supplies is hired. Again, contingent recruiters represent the employer, not the candidate, and they typically send several candidates to the employer for one opening in an attempt to ensure that one of their candidates will be selected to fill the opening.

Employment agencies or search firms usually handle positions with salaries of less than $50,000 per year. Typically specialized, these agencies may handle HR, finance, administrative support, or clerical positions. Again, employment agencies and search firms represent the employer, not the job seeker. They probably will show interest in you only when they know of a specific opportunity that calls for someone with your background and experience.

Working with recruiters can be helpful, or it can be a waste of time. You can control your level of success in using them by conducting research (see Chapter 15 for a link to research recommendations). The following 10 rules apply to working with recruiters:
- Be honest with yourself about your skills, education, background, and career path, and then be honest with the recruiter.
- Do your homework on the recruiter. Make sure you know, understand, and respect the recruiter’s business model (retained or contingent) and industry specialty.
- Do some preparatory work before your initial telephone interview with the recruiter. Be prepared for the standard questions, and prepare a few examples of your experience to support your case. Also be prepared for that one question you do not want to have to answer (it will be asked!).
- Be ready to respond immediately. If the recruiter has lined up an interview for you, make yourself available.
- Do not call the recruiter daily or weekly. Ask the recruiter what an appropriate follow-up schedule for the two of you to touch base might be, and then respect that.
- Make sure the recruiter knows how you like to receive feedback after interviews—timing, content, and style. If the recruiter indicates that he or she cannot provide the type of feedback you find important, you have selected the wrong recruiter.
- Know what you want, and be able to communicate it clearly to the recruiter. It is very easy for job hunters to appear ambivalent about their direction when they really just want to be open to all possibilities.
- Be helpful. If you are not interested in a position that is suggested to you, make sure that the recruiter understands why you think the suggested position is not a good fit, and offer to recommend people you know who you believe will be a good fit.
- Good recruiters receive hundreds of r sum s each week; they will not respond to every r sum they receive. They will respond to you if they know you or if they know the person who referred you to them, and they will respond to you when they have an actual opportunity that would be a good fit.
- Remember that the recruiter works for the employer.
Responding to job postings, working with executive recruiters, and engaging in direct mail campaigns are important components of an effective job search, but you get the biggest return on your investment through networking.
Networking. If you have experienced the frustration of waiting for the right job to show up on Internet postings, you will be pleased to find that real results occur when you take control of your own career. Networking is not as dreadful as you may think. It is not a process of stalking someone—it is a process of developing relationships that last, it is a process of making contacts that may have information for you (and with whom you may be able to reciprocate), and it is a path to the research on target companies that you will be doing during your search.

If it is true that over 75 percent of all jobs are found through word of mouth, then networking is an important element of finding the work you love. That would also mean that 75 percent of your job search time would best be spent in the networking arena.
- Networking is
  - A way to develop important, long-lasting relationships
  - A way to research information on industries, companies, cultures, and jobs
  - A way to be helpful to others
  - A way to restore the sense of “team” that is missing from your day-to-day activities when you are in a career transition
  - A primary source of unpublished jobs
  - Fun
- Networking is not
  - Simply asking someone for a job
  - An excuse to market a product or service
  - An excuse to stalk someone
A solid network is something that we each need, whether we are in transition or in a job we love, and a network is easiest to develop when you do not need it. If you have let your network slip, work to rebuild it and keep it healthy. The members of your network will benefit from your expertise and contacts as much as you will benefit from theirs.

How to Build a Network If you were to ask 30 people you know for advice in your job search, and each of them referred you to 3 other people who might be able to assist you in some way, and each of those people, in turn, referred you to 3 additional people, you would have a network of three levels of people with 270 contacts involved in supporting your job search.

Networking is most productive and fun when it is done in person (although it can be done via the Internet and Usenet groups). I recommend that my clients attend networking meetings in their area that focus on their target audience, from executive to entry-level groups. Try out a couple of groups and meetings before you make any long-term or financial commitments; you have to be comfortable with the group and its charter first.

In the networking meetings for professionals and executives in a career transition that I facilitate here in California, each participant is requested to come to the meetings with three things in mind:

An elevator speech. This is your short answer to the “tell me about yourself” question: In about 30-seconds, describe yourself, your background, and your direction. Consider the following questions when creating your elevator speech:
- Who are you?
- What is your specialty (or product, or service)?
- What problem does your service solve, or what value does it add?
An example is

“My name is John Doe, and I am a seasoned operations management professional with experience in manufacturing and food and beverage. I help companies keep their operations running smoothly, while increasing productivity and revenue.”
What they want to get from the group before they leave. Often people attend networking meetings and say something like, “I’m looking for a CFO job.” Where? What industry? What type of corporate culture? What size company? Be specific in articulating your direction:

“I am in a career transition, and I’d like to meet contacts with Dole, Del Monte, Campbell’s, and Nestl , so if any of you have contacts in these companies, I’d love to spend a few minutes with you today after this meeting, or I can be reached via email at abc@xyz.com.”
Something to share. You know many people who will be helpful to others in their job search campaign, so offering to assist someone else by providing an introduction is valuable. Just do not share any contacts that you know will be unwilling to participate, or that are virtually unknown to you.

How to Work with Your Network

Categorize. Make a point of creating a database of the people you meet and those you already know. For instance, categories within your network could be your closest friends and allies (centers of influence), your coworkers, your clients, your neighbors, ex-coworkers, ex-clients, classmates, associates, family, extended family, and members of special interest groups (church, associations)—and remember that some people may be in more than one category. This exercise will show you where your strengths are, and it will show you who is missing from your network (or your life).
Stay in contact. Stay in contact with your network. Don’t contact people only when you need something; instead, contact them occasionally just to say hello or to offer your assistance to others. When you do ask for something, be specific. Make it easy for others to help you.

A mistake made by many people who are in a career transition is to send an email to everyone in their database saying, “I still need a job; send me all leads.” What, exactly, is the reader supposed to do?

A better approach is to send an email to an appropriate group within your network saying, “I’ve targeted a few companies I’d like to learn more about; if you have any contacts with these organizations, I’d love to talk with you about an introduction. I will not be asking you—or them—for a job; I’m at the information-gathering stage.”

A word about badgering:

There are reasons why people within your network and outside of your network will not talk to you:
1. They do not know you.
2. They are too busy.
3. They are afraid that you will pressure them for a job.
Then there are the reasons why they will talk to you:
1. They know you personally.
2. They know the person referring you to be credible.
3. You let them know what your intentions are concerning this meeting.
Any networking plan has to take into account the fact that the currently employed are bombarded with requests for their time. Some networkers pull a “bait and switch” on their target, initially declaring that they are simply gathering information, and then pouncing with r sum in hand as soon as the office door opens. This approach ruins not only your credibility but the credibility of the person who referred you. Being eager to land a great job is a good thing; being desperate is not.

Targeting No networking plan is complete or likely to be successful without targeting. Targeting is the process of identifying where you want to work, from a geographic and an industry perspective. You then build your network around your targets. To start, ask yourself:

What geographic territories are options for me?
What industries exist within those territories that would value my skills?
What companies within those industries would hire someone like me?
Which of those companies do I admire enough to work for?
Whom do I know, or whom do I need to know, within my target companies?

Targeting and networking go together. To make them work well, you need to develop relationships, research companies, and conduct networking meetings in an effort to generate offers.

Networking Meetings Through your targeting and networking efforts, you will get introductions to contacts at the targeted companies you have selected. The next step is to ask for a meeting or interview with each of those contacts. In this meeting, you are interviewing the contact, not the other way around. You will let the target contact know that your purpose for the meeting you are requesting is to gather information on industry trends, on the company and its initiatives, on the person you are speaking with—even on the corporate and division goals for the next quarter (or year). Make it clear in your request that you will not be asking for a job—and keep this commitment.

To conduct a meaningful networking meeting, you will need to have done your homework on the industry, the company, its competitors, and any recent news. Use the library, the Internet, and your network of contacts. Prepare for your networking meeting by creating a list of questions to ask that show that you are interested, and that will guide you in your decision as to whether this company is a place where you would really like to work. Ask questions in each of the following categories that show your knowledge and interest:

The industry: “What are the most important trends in this industry right now?”
The company: “What important challenges is your organization facing right now?”
The person with whom you are meeting: “What is some advice you would give to someone in my position?”

Create a list of questions that will fit within the allotted time, and remember, a networking meeting is not an excuse to ask for a job. Use this time to gather information; you can always follow up with a job inquiry later.

When you have completed your questioning, alter your exit statement depending on how much you liked or disliked what you learned during the meeting:

If you liked what you saw and heard, you might carefully ask, “How do you think someone like me might fit in here at XYZ?” If the answer is negative, then ask, “Who else in the industry do you recommend that I speak with for additional information?”
If you did not like what you saw or heard, say, “I’m interested in continuing my research—whom else do you think I should speak with for additional information?”