Career E-News February 2009: Best Job Search Tips from A to Z

1. Access the Hidden Job Market: The hidden job market comprises 75% of the total jobs and perhaps 90% of the best jobs. These jobs materialize from the hiring decision maker communicating about their companies' "problems," "needs," "changes," or "opportunities," but has not advertised "openings" or "vacancies" to the general public. You'll learn about these opportunities from your networking contacts, instead of posting your résumé on job boards - and waiting for responses that may never come.

2. Build Your Networking Contact List: Since your best leads to the hidden job market will come from people, it's time to build your contact list. Start with "inner circle" of family, friends, and colleagues: people you already know, who are likely to give you referrals, to others, for additional advice, information, and suggestions; or people in a position to hire you. (See #18: Referral Meetings)

3. Clarify Your Ideal Job: Write about your ideal job or employment situation, whether it exists or not. Include details about your "dream" company (products; services; location; sales volume), your boss, coworkers, team members, salary and benefits. When you're clear about what you want, opportunities will magically appear. (see Law of Attraction, #12).

4. Diversify Your Employment Options. Try temping, contracting or part-time positions, which may lead to a full-time, permanent position. Otherwise, consider starting your own business or consulting practice. You never know where your business ideas may lead. For information on business start-up, contact the SBA or SCORE.

5. Eliminate the "Career Objective" from your Résumé: Replace with a "Professional Title" which describes your industry and professional level, such as Sales Manager, Elementary School Teacher or Senior Marketing Executive. Hiring managers will be impressed with seeing a pleasant alternative to the same, tired objective: "Seeking a challenging position in a progressive organization." <yawn>

6. Focus on Opportunities in Small Businesses and Privately-held Companies. Large corporations are usually the first to have massive layoffs in troubled economic times. Smaller companies will allow you to be a bigger fish in a smaller pond. Tap into the INC 5000 list or ReferenceUSA in your local library, to find companies where you might want to work.

7. Gratitude: Thank each person who introduced you to an important contact, passed on a job lead, provided you with a great reference, or convinced a hiring manager to interview you, even if the opportunity didn't work out as you hoped. When people know you appreciate their efforts, they will keep on helping you! Hand-written thank-you notes sent by U.S. mail will make you more memorable than email messages.

8. Handle Rejection Gracefully: Received a "thanks but no thanks letter" after an interview? Reach out to the hiring manager. Congratulate him or her on the new hire. Ask to be considered for another position in the company, which could be better match for your skills set and experience.

9. Ignore Negative News about the Economy: The media stays in business by selling headlines and TV ratings. Nothing sells best like bad news! Even though "bad news" items may be factually correct, dwelling on them will only make you feel worse. According to Law of Attraction principles, focusing on unwanted situations will only attract more of them! Do your best to avoid TV news programs and read "happier" sections of the newspaper; or don't read it at all.

10. Join a Job Club: In today's economy, looking for a job can be difficult, discouraging, and lonely journey. Consider joining a job club, which is a small group of job seekers that offer each other advice, support and camaraderie during the process. Check out Job-Hunt.org to find a job club in your area.

11. Know Your Value: Document how you helped your employers save money, make money, save time, or solved a problem. Translate this into your return on investment (ROI) for prospective employers. How will they get a 150% ROI for the salary they pay you?

12. Law of Attraction: Identify your "wants" and "don't wants" in an ideal career position, feel like you already have it -- and allow the Universe to bring it to you. When you get into the "feeling" place of having your ideal job and hold this feeling for 16 seconds, this is equivalent to 10 hours of work to find this job!

13. Motivation: Motivation is an inside job. Jim Rohn says it best: "The best motivation is self-motivation. The guy says, 'I wish someone would come by and turn me on.' What if they don't show up? You've got to have a better plan for your life."

14. Networking Do's and Don'ts: Networking is a lifelong process of building mutually beneficial relationships with others; it is not handing out or collecting business cards and schmoozing; or to be done reactively if you suddenly become jobless. (See #18 - Referral Meetings). Two excellent books on networking are Some Assembly Required: How to Make, Grow, and Keep Your Business Relationships (Thom Singer) and Dig Your Well Before You're Thirsty: The Only Networking Book You'll Ever Need. (Harvey Mackay.)

15. Outcome Detachment: Talane Miedaner, author of Coach Yourself to Success explains: "The easiest way to detach from the outcome is to have something in reserve, an ace up your sleeve...This reduces your neediness and automatically increases your ability to attract what you want...If you really want one particular job, it helps to have offers at [many] other places too, so that you can increase your bargaining power."

16. Prepare a Job Proposal: Create your own position, by identifying a company's unmet need and proposing a solution. Prepare a brief business plan which shows exactly what you will do, for a specific salary to solve the company's problem. For a job proposal blueprint, look to the book Using Competitive Intelligence to Advance Your Career: A Step-By-Step Training Manual (Robert E. Pannone).

17. Quiet Your Inner Critic: Stop scolding yourself over "what might have been" if you had done things differently in your career. Replace your inner dialogue of "what if" with "what did I learn from this experience" and "what can I do better next time."

18. Referral Meetings: Arrange get-togethers with your contacts, to get their help with your career transition. Never ask for a job! Preface your request for meeting with: "I don't expect you to have or know of any positions in your company right now. All I'm asking for is advice, information, and referrals to others, to plan my next career move." If they do know someone who is hiring, this is icing on the cake!

19. Social Networking 101: Build a LinkedIn profile. Recruiters regularly search LinkedIn for qualified candidates. Use the content in your résumé to fill-in the employment sections. Be selective in asking others to join your network or accepting invitations. The quality of your connections -- who you know -- and who knows you -- is much more valuable than how many connections you have.

20. Targeted Direct Mailings: Send targeted résumés and cover letters to 100 (or more) companies where you'd like to work, whether or not they are hiring. Customize each letter with the decision maker's name and title. Expect a 1% to 3% response rate. Your goal is to meet someone who will talk to you when there is no open position. (See #6 for mailing list resources).

21. Upgrade Your Skills and Credentials: Finish your bachelor degree, MBA, or certification program, if you know these qualifications will help you move forward in your career. Don't rely on your employer to fund your educational programs. Figure out a way to pay for them yourself. If you are unemployed, you may be eligible for fr*ee or low-cost training through your local workforce development center.

22. Volunteer Your Way to Employment: Volunteering can lead to a better professional network and will expand your list of contacts. Many companies are involved in volunteering, and encourage employees to volunteer individually, or as a team on a specific project. You might even meet hiring managers from large, local companies through your volunteer work. Choose a volunteer program you are passionate about, to enjoy doing the work.

23. Wait to Discuss Salary until you have a job offer on the table. The first person to mention a salary figure is at a disadvantage in the negotiation process. Don't let this happen to you! Ask for a salary range, before stating your requirements. Research the market rate for your salary on www.salary.com or www.payscale.com so you'll be in a better position to negotiate the best package for yourself.

24. X's and O's: Go through your career history and create a list of all the job tasks you've ever done. Put an "X" through your least enjoyable activities and put a circle (O) around the tasks you love to do. Congratulations! You've identified some key elements of your dream job or ideal career position.

25. You, Inc. Treat your job and career as though you are "self-employed" whether you file a 1099 or 1040 tax form. Think of your employer as your "client." According to Brian Tracy: "The biggest mistake we could ever make in our lives is to think we work for anybody but ourselves."

26. Zigzag Your Way to Career Success! The path of a successful job search or career transition is rarely a straight line; it's a series of setbacks, followed by giant steps forward. Remember -- job search is a numbers game, like sales -- the more "no's' you get, the closer you will be to a job offer!