How 3 People Found Jobs 73% Faster, in the State with America’s Highest Unemployment Rate

Original Post: Here - By Kevin Donlin | November 16th, 2009

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The average job search in America takes 26.9 weeks, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics for October 2009.

Yet 3 people were recently hired for new jobs in only 7
weeks — less than 1/3 the time — in Michigan, the state with America’s
worst unemployment rate, 15.3%.

How did they do it?

The full story will be released in the coming days, but here’s a preview …

1) Gail Neal, from Detroit, Michigan, accepted a job offer as a sales professional for a radio station on Wed., November 11, 2009.

She had been unemployed since June 7, 2009.

• Time spent in an ordinary job search: 15 weeks.


• Time to hire in a Guerrilla Job Search: 7 weeks.

2) Mary Berman, from Farmington Hills, Michigan,
accepted a job on Thur. Nov. 12, 2009 as a executive assistant for a
local marketing firm.

She had been looking for work since February 2009 before starting her Guerrilla Job Search in late September.

• Time spent in an ordinary job search: 25 weeks.


• Time to hire in a Guerrilla Job Search: 7 weeks.

3) Jeff Donaldson, from Oxford, Michigan, got two
job offers the week of Nov. 2 and accepted one, as a project manager
for a design firm.

He left his job at Chrysler in December 2008.

• Time spent in an ordinary job search: 4 weeks (after taking a sabbatical). Job interviews: 0.


• Time to hire in a Guerrilla Job Search: 7 weeks. Job interviews: 3. Job offers: 2.

The complete story will be released in 3 more blog postings this
week. For now, it’s enough for you to know that each of these 3 job
seekers had two things in common:

1. Using ordinary resumes produced ordinary results — from 15-25 weeks of fruitless job hunting. (Sound familiar?)


2. Using Guerrilla Resumes, each was hired in only 7 weeks.

Your LinkedIn Profile Picture Maybe Killing Your Job Prospects

Original Post: Here

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image via ceoworld.biz

I don’t really consider myself an HR person. I like to think I’m a practical technologist. However, I do occasionally attend HR related training. Yesterday was one such occasion and inevitably, I had a shock.

The discussion moved from hiring techniques, to LinkedIn photos. Many of the folks in the room would agree with us that LinkedIn photos should be professional. No argument. But someone told us a story that made us cringe. And if you are in HR, you may cringe as well.

This recruiter was working with a candidate, who had hired her to position him for a job. He had a fabulous resume. Literally, she had trouble finding anything to change. But then she took one look at his LinkedIn profile photo.

The guy looked like an axe murder. She said, “No wonder he wasn’t getting any interviews, despite his killer credentials, no pun intended”.

So he retook his photo, and I kid you not, within a week, he had several opportunities arise.

(Lets just ignore the more frightening social implications of that for now, and accept the fact that your photo makes a big impact).

So I ask you, does your photo strive too hard to be what you think professional is supposed to be?

Or are you using it as an opportunity to convey personality?

I’m not a photographer, but I would like to offer some profile photo tips.

1. Don’t be afraid to show personality. You can have personality and be professional at the same time.
2. Experiment with action shots. There isn’t a lot of room, but the more you can demonstrate YOU in action the better. Can you fit yourself giving a presentation in the photo, shaking hands, or even leaning on a hand?
3. Play with the negative space. You notice the first photo in this post has uniform negative space around the guy’s head. The second photo is visually more interesting. He accomplished this by turning his body and tilting his head.
4. Smile and think inviting thoughts.

That’s my armature photography advice. If you have some more ideas, please share them in the comments below.

Ditch Unemployment And Land That Job

Original Post: Here

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The following post is contributed by Richard Hemby who frequently writes about online degrees and college related topics for Online College Guru, a directory of accredited online degrees

Especially in today’s economic environment, many people have found themselves among the ranks of the unemployed through no fault of their own. Some people are fortunate enough to find other work immediately; others are not so lucky and seek work in vain for months or even years. Unemployment benefits bridge the gap for many out-of-work individuals but, over time, this can become a trap for some who become accustomed to drawing unemployment and lose touch with the working world.

Unemployment benefits are meant to be a temporary measure; workers who forget this can find themselves in serious difficulty when those benefits run out. Milking your unemployment benefits for all they are worth is not only bad for the economy; it’s harmful to your future employment prospects as well. Here are some hints on how to maximize your employment chances while minimizing your time on unemployment.

Learn new tricks

Instead of staying at home and becoming addicted to soap operas, many unemployed workers choose to brush up on basic skills or learn a new trade. Incentives and financial assistance can provide an entry point for furthering one’s education. Whether you opt for a degree program, advanced certification, or a few credit hours in a new field, these educational excursions can show prospective employers that you’re open to learning new things and willing to take risks; this can make the difference between a job offer and another polite rejection letter.

Stay in the game

Even when you feel discouraged by constant rejection, it’s essential that you continue sending out resumes and working toward the career you want. Perseverance and determination are the keys to finding the right job opportunity for you. If you want to work for a particular company, send them a resume even if they are not hiring; in most cases, your resume will be retained by the human resources staff and you’ll be the first name they see when an opportunity becomes available.

Shape up

Unemployment is not an excuse to let yourself go. Devote some time every day to fitness and health. This will improve your energy level, your self-esteem, and ensure that you stay healthy and in good shape for job interviews and other activities.

Be willing to compromise

Look into jobs that may be slightly outside your field of expertise; these can open up far more opportunities than a strict adherence to the type of work you’ve done before. If you’ve been employed in public relations, look into fundraising or human resources; the skills and experience necessary are largely the same. Don’t unnecessarily limit yourself to one specific job description. Similarly, be willing to accept a temporary or part-time job in order to get back into the marketplace. Employers tend to look with suspicion on large gaps in your job history; two part-time jobs may provide approximately the same level of income as one full-time job. By being flexible about your employment expectations, you can often find the right job far more quickly.

Most importantly, don’t give up. Don’t relax and collect your unemployment benefits, regarding this period as a vacation. It’s not. Instead, consider it as an opportunity to hone your job skills and enhance your employability. By maximizing your qualifications, persisting in your job search, and thinking outside the box, you can improve your chances of landing a job that’s precisely right for you.

For more advice from Richard Hemby check out his site.

Learning by analogy

Original Post: Here

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Image by Thonhaugen


Some people are way better at this than others.
The other day, I was talking to someone about a complex and specialized issue. It's quite possible that this was the first and only time in the history of the world that this precise set of circumstances had ever occurred. He said, 'do you have an example of how this has worked before for you?'

I was puzzled. I mean, not only hadn't I ever had this precise problem, but no one in the world had.
It's like the left-handed chiropractor in Berkeley wondering how he can use new technologies and marketing techniques wondering why there aren't more case studies about left-handed chiropractors in Berkeley.

Sure, the industries change, the goods/service ratio changes, regulation changes, names change. Doesn't matter. It's all the same. People are people, and basic needs and wants don't vary so much.

Put aside your need for a step-by-step manual and instead realize that analogies are your best friend. By the time there is a case study in your specific industry, it's going to be way too late for you to catch up.

How to Guarantee People Want to Work For You

Original Post: Here

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I was reading Jason Fried’s “The Way I Work” last night and it didn’t take long to realize that I had a new man-crush to rival those of Ryan Reynolds, Bill Simmons, and David Stehle.

When I run my own company, I will run it with a very similar approach to the one Jason takes with his employees. It virtually guarantees you’ll have talented people wanting to work for you. (And tons of idiot’s too.)

“Employees come to the office if and when they feel like it, or else they work from home. I don’t believe in the 40-hour workweek, so we cut all that BS about being somewhere for a certain number of hours. I have no idea how many hours my employees work — I just know they get the work done.”

No, not every company can operate this way, but A LOT more can than currently do. Could yours?

But employees won’t do their work? Easy solution. Show them the door. If you hire the best employees it won’t be an issue. They’ll be empowered by the freedom and work harder, at hours you wouldn’t expect them to. Sometimes in a small organization or team this might mean the others pulling the weight until you find the right fit. It’s worth it.

“We rarely have meetings. I hate them. They’re a huge waste of time, and they’re costly. It’s not one hour; it’s 10, because you pulled 10 people away from their real work.”

There has to be some research somewhere to show that 95% of meetings are worthless. Lets sit at the conference table and tell everyone what we’re working on. I got an idea. How about a wiki? Google Doc? An E-mail? You don’t need that meeting. That one either.

“After lunch, I get a little lazy between 1:00pm and 3:00pm. I don’t feel that productive, so I’m usually screwing around, which I think is really important. Everyone should read stuff on the Web that’s goofy or discover something new. I hate it when businesses treat their employees like children. They block Facebook or YouTube because they want their employees to work eight hours a day. But instead of getting more productivity, you’re getting frustration. What’s the point? As long as the work gets done, I don’t care what people do all day.”

Here’s the rub. If your employees aren’t compensated well, if you don’t respect them, if you don’t trust them, they’ll find ways to waste time. End of story. I think the hour after lunch should be mandatory nap time (like Kindergarten) so everyone wakes up anxious to dominate the second half of the day.

Bottom line, I just thought it was a refreshing perspective from someone who’s been uber successful running a business.

What are your thoughts? How would you run your company? Would this strategy work in your office? Would people take advantage of it? With so many people looking for jobs right now, wouldn’t this be the perfect time to try something like this?

10 Ways to Get Paid What You Deserve

Original Post: 10 Ways to Get Paid What You Deserve

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Once just the purview of cheesy late-night infomercials (“buy now and get this beautiful set of six steak knives at no extra charge”), free has taken on a life of its own in the new economy. Even the prestigious and pricey New York Times offers its stories online — yes, for free.

One area that seems to be a “free-for-all zone” is advice. I’ve listened in on a dozen complimentary teleclasses over the past year — all free — and most have been worth exactly what I paid for them. The vast majority were a thinly veiled promotion of the speaker’s services, with less than 10 percent content. A few savvy souls actually provided 90 percent content as a way to show their stuff and entice people to sign up.

Don’t get me wrong; I’m not against giving people an appropriate taste of what you can do for them. I personally place a high priority on showing some sample value to my potential PR clients before asking them to become full-fledged patrons. I find that doing so helps my productivity by increasing my closure rate. But as with most things, if you’re a freelancer, or even if you work for a company, giving away too much for free — be it a product, service or advice — can backfire, and eat into your productivity and profit.

“In the name of ‘marketing,’ many businesspeople are providing way too much information for free,” says business coach Maria Marsala. “If you don’t value your services, no one else will,” says Marsala. If you find yourself walking that fine line between holding back on information and services that you rightfully should be paid for, yet fearing that you’re missing the marketing boat, consider this: If you contacted your doctor, lawyer or accountant for a professional consultation, would you expect to be charged? Would you be shocked if you went into Best Buy to pick up Season 6 of ‘24′ and they asked if you wanted to pay by credit card or cash? The bottom line is that, in general, we believe it’s fair to pay for the expertise and time of the vendors we value and the products we want to possess.

Marsala says setting boundaries on just how much “free” you are going to give away is not always easy, especially when you are asked outright for free advice on how to design a web site, solve a software snafu or cope with a computer crash. To get around the dilemma, here are Marsala’s top ten phrases for turning “at no charge” into cash:

1. My charge for an initial consultation is “x.” If we turn out to be a good match, and you hire me, I’ll apply 1/2 of “x” toward your commitment.
2. Yes, I do work with clients on “name the issue.” Would you like to set up a consultation?
3. That will cost “x” per hour.
4. There’s a lot I can do for you that’s similar to the work I did for “xyz” client. Would you like to get together and build a marketing plan? I charge “x” for that service.
5. Are you looking to hire _____? Well, I’d love to talk to you about that; my fees are “x” per hour.
6. “Well, the answer to that question depends…” and then spend a few minutes explaining some of the options and considerations. “If I were to work with you on this project, here’s how we would do it and what it would cost…”
7. A complete answer to your question is going to take more than 15 minutes over the phone. Would you like me to send you a proposal on this?
8. I have really enjoyed talking with you and would like to help more. May I send you one of my brochures and a rate card?
9. Do you have a time line and/or budget in mind for solving this problem?
10. It’s not a good time for me to discuss this right this minute. Would you like to briefly discuss project guidelines and fees?

Remember, part of what you contribute to your clients, and what they value from you, is the knowledge and expertise you’ve built up over the years. Being paid properly is about honoring those skills. But hey, that’s just my free advice.

How much work do you do for free? Is it too much?

Finding Jobs vs. Finding a Job

Original Post: Here

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Earlier this year Dale Dauten’s “Corporate Curmudgeon” column noted that “We have entered the Post-Employee Economy. There still will be organizations, and there still will be work to be done, but it’s time to understand that the concept of ‘employee,’ as we know it, is obsolete.”
He recently revisited this topic, and noted that the U.S. economy continues to progress toward his Post-Employee paradigm. Companies aren’t hiring, they’re downsizing. And they’re wringing as much work as they can out of their remaining staff.
Dauten added, “As companies reach their maximum output with their current employees, they’ll be slow to add new workers. Instead, they’ll outsource the mindless work and they’ll bring in consultants for the mindful work.”
And that’s where we fit in. I’ve spoken with quite a few freelancers who, sotto voce, have told me that they’re quite busy. The reason they’re being so sotto voce is that the current business meme is How Awful Everything Is, and you don’t dare speak against that. At least not publicly.
What these freelancers are reporting has been true in other economic downturns. Amidst all the plant closings, layoffs, reductions in hours, and furloughs, there is still work that needs to be done.
A good chunk of this work is project work, which means that organizations don’t need to keep your smiling face on the payroll once the gig is over. And, face it. If you’re a freelancer, you probably don’t want to be on one company’s payroll for the next five years or however long it takes to get vested in the pension plan. You want more adventure in your professional life.
So, what does it take to thrive in this brave new world? I recommend the following:

1. A system for landing new business quickly. It might include cold calls, warm calls, working the networking mixers, using social media, advertising, or something else.
2. A system for staying in touch with people you’ve worked with before. It might include an e-mail newsletter, a blog, a Twitter account, postcard mailings, or something else. The goal is to ensure that you stay on client radar screens when they have additional work that you could do.
3. A first-class set of skills. This is an economy that favors those who are good at what they do.
4. An ongoing effort to improve your skills – and add new ones. Know how to learn new things quickly. This may mean reading books, studying websites, taking short courses, watching video tutorials, or something else.
5. The ability to filter out all the bad news and just get to work on finding jobs, doing them, and repeating this process. Wasn’t too long ago that I heard an architect friend note that, despite the fact that there’s a Bad Economy out there, he has his own economy. And that economy’s keeping him pretty busy.