A few years ago branding and marketing experts told me I had to put some kind of guarantee or phrase in my marketing that would promise JibberJobber would help you find a job 30% faster, or get more job offers, or something like that.
It sounded really cool, of course… who wouldn’t want a guarantee to make their job search go faster, or be more successful?
Who doesn’t want a silver bullet for their job search? Please, just give me “the job search secret,” let me move on to my next job and wash my hands of this unemployment crap.
There was no way I would put any kind of promise, or allude to any such promise, in my literature. First of all, how do you back it up? Second, what about the anomalies the economy (which was quite different three years ago), and the slackers? What about people who weren’t doing a principle-based search (like mine – very not principle-based, and destined to failure)?
Perhaps the problem is my solution (JibberJobber) wasn’t priced appropriately. For $99/year, what could you expect – a job lead straight to the corner office? Not hardly.
We all know throwing money at a problem will make it go away – so what if I pay $7,500 to a firm that will find me a job? Sounds sweet, and that sounds like just the right price (comparable to an amazing vacation, an industry certification and training, a car for my kid, etc…. this is not peanuts – since it costs so much it must work).
In the comments yesterday a JibberJobber Partner, Mike Ballard, wrote:
Another expose that needs to be done is that of so-called ‘Search’ firms that charge exorbitant up-front fees (often thousands of dollars) for their services, in exchange for a guaranteed ‘dream job’. Like the Ladders, these operations traditionally prey upon high-end execs that they figure have plenty of extra cash. Now we at (his employer) are beginning to hear stories of similar operations that are target low-income workers and charge a few hundred dollars for ‘guaranteed’ results. This is even more despicable for someone who may be only a few paychecks from the street.
There’s a big difference between hiring a job search or career coach who will help you along the process, and hiring a firm who will guarantee you a great job. Can such a guarantee exist?
I can’t remember the names of any such firms right now, but I do remember hearing about some who continually change their names so you can’t find much information about them – my point is, please be careful where you put your money in a job search – and be very suspicous of guarantees or claims that seem to good to be true, even if they do look like your silver bullet to kill this problem.
For all the active job seekers out there looking to pay someone to find themselves a job need to look no further than the mirror.
If you are going to spend the money on anything, hire a GOOD career coach to help YOU find yourself a job. A good teacher or career search strategist might be just the thing to push you over the edge into a new role. Hiring someone else to do it for you might sound easy at this time, but in the long run conducting your own sucessful job search will empower YOU to future career sucess. Taking the approach that job hunting is a FULL time might help realize that it’s really sweat equity that you need not throwing money at a company to do it for you. I know first hand how difficult it is to find a job – but doing it has given me an entirely new skill set….. it’s almost like on the job training.
Empower YOU! You can do it!
When it comes to finding a job, I can not stress how valuable coaching can be (more so than a lot of “job-finder” websites.) A good coach can help you explore your true interests, help you assess which positions you’d be the best fit for, and help you improve your interview habits, resume, and so much more. That way, you are more likely to be snapped up for the right job that can help you achieve success.
Three years ago I read your emails and when I found a job I stopped. Now I am out of work again and wish I had kept up with the times. Glad you’re still here. The most important lesson is ” everything changes all the time so be ready”.