I wrote this in January of 2009: Why I’m Uber-Frustrated (click to see the 27 comments from back then)
Like many of you, I’m getting a lot of calls and emails from people looking for help finding their next job.
Either they have been in a job search for a long time, or they are new to the job search, or they think they will be in a job search soon… it seems to be the season to be unemployed or know a dozen professionals who are unemployed.
I never went through this – at least during my own fruitless job search I was one of a handful of unemployed people, whereas now it seems to be in fashion (not by anyone’s choosing).
I’m quite frustrated. Not because of the economy, recession or influx of job seekers. I’m frustrated because I can’t tell people what they should do to land their next job. So many people will hear the advice, but really, all they want is the silver bullet.
All I wanted was the silver bullet.
Don’t give me lists of things to do… just tell me that one thing I’m not doing (or doing wrong) so I can find my next job. That’s all I wanted.
I’d like to tell people the answer is in networking. But that’s usually a long-term strategy. And long-term is not silver bullet.
I want to tell people they need to work on their personal brand and their googleability. But that’s also a long-term strategy, and won’t matter if no one is googling them.
I want to tell people to get on LinkedIn, but once you are there, there’s work to do to really use it in a job search, and it’s not a silver bullet.
I always tell people to check out JibberJobber, but it’s not for everyone. And while it can give you peace of mind in your job search as you track and manage all the data you start to collect, it isn’t going to reach out through your monitor with a job offer. And that’s what many people want.
So I’m left with all kinds of advice, some great, some long-term, some more along the lines of career management… and people look at me with that pleading look… where’s the silver bullet?
…and when one’s done all that, the networking, the googleability, the LinkedIn and all, then what?
I don’t need a silver bullet. I do need a job. I do need to get out of my self-employment and get a full-time position doing digital marketing for an organization, doing for another than I’ve been doing on my own boosting my own brand. And it’s frustrating because so are everyone else; and unfortunately I’m finding that because I’ve been on my own, that’s the stumbling block for hiring managers to get over, the thing that separates me from everyone else who are applying from different full-time jobs.
LinkedIn and networking only work so much. Sometimes it’s the human element that is the difference between a candidate and a new employee. I’m tired of being the candidate. And there’s no silver bullet for me to sell myself to another to hire me.
@Ari – a few thoughts.
You already know this, but others might not… networking, etc. is not a one-time thing. It is a repeat thing…
I got job offers after I started JibberJobber, because I showed what I could do. That was after networking and personal branding (I did it wrong and ineffectively, but I still did it)… when people could see who I was and what I could do, that made all the difference.
Sometimes we need someone who can honestly and objectively give us feedback. Do we have interpersonal issues? Do we dress wrong? Are we doing the right things, perhaps the wrong way? A coach or candid friend (it might be better to not ask a friend, who has something to lose if they are too honest) can help bring certain things to light.
Just some thoughts…