Maybe it's your first job out of school. The job to take you into retirement. The job where it won't just be about the money. It will be about you making a difference. Or maybe you're part of the "working poor." And minimum wage just won't cut it anymore. Forget making a difference. You need dinner.
Maybe it's the job that will finally take you out of the "gig" economy and joyously let you land somewhere where security isn't just an ancient dream. Or maybe you want the freedom of the contract or part-time job.
What's different now is that the country has been pulled back from economic collapse. An enormous feat that will live forever in the history books. You get that. You're grateful. You're now in a world where the unemployment rate is at historic lows
But you still need a job. That has NOT changed. And neither have these core truths of finding work. No matter what economic statistics tell you.
What's Still True About Finding Work? Even Now.
1.There IS no "right way." No checklist. No vending machine where you pull the lever and the job pops out.
2.There are principals that guide the process. Of the 5 Principles you'll find in Finding Work When There Are No Jobs, perhaps the hardest one is "Communitizing." When you "communitize," you become part of a community. All the empty networking that you always hated anyway becomes irrelevant because you are already on the "inside." There is no "gatekeeper" who matters cause you have the key.
Of the notes and conversations I've had with folks who are among the 26,000 people who have bought Finding Work When There Are No Jobs, there are two messages I've heard more than any.
First: The moment I knew I had communitized was the moment I knew I was on my way to a job.
And Second: Thank you for lowering the Kindle price to 99 cents!
3.Getting a job and doing a job are two entirely different things.
4.You've GOT to have "thought prompts" to get you thinking differently about your search. They can be the stories in Finding Work, which are about the principles, not just finding work. But they can also be movies, art, a TV show, and a conversation with a friend.
If you don't use those thought prompts, you'll keep following the same old get wrenching pattern of tossing off resumes and applications to strangers in cyberspace.
At the Sulzer Regional Library in Chicago, where I deliver Career Development sessions, the library itself is a giant thought prompt.
5.Finding a need comes before finding a job.
6.Talent rules all. Can you give your Top 5 talents a name, describe them and then say exactly how those talents can meet an employer's need? If not, you need to make sure that talent becomes the language of your job search. After all, what does your potential employer care about more? What you did for someone else or what you can do for them?
7.There is no such thing as the perfect resume.
8.Job search almost never follows a straight line.
9.People hire people. Sounds simple. Till you try getting an HR person on the phone.
10.Ageism is rampant. Whether you are 22 or 92. Fighting ageism it is best done on an individual basis.
Still need a job? What are you going to do today in your job search that you have never done before?