When was the last time you had to look for a job? If you haven’t been job hunting within the last year, I think you’ll find things are a bit different.

Competition is Fierce

In many industries and pockets of the country, hiring is on the upswing. That’s good news. As a matter of fact, there has probably not been a better time to look for work in the last three years! But, and this is a huge BUT! Competition is fierce. There are tons of qualified (even over-qualified) candidates applying for every job. Why does this matter to you? Here are just three things you can do to better compete:

1. You will want to stand out!
2. You will have to do more than just sit back and expect a call!
3. You will want and need to be well connected!

STAND OUT

The resume you submit has to be specifically crafted to match the job and company you are applying for

You should have a strong personal brand and online presence

You will need to understand key words and search engine optimization

BE ASSERTIVE

Follow up after you apply for every job and don’t give up when you don’t hear back

Find inside connections who can give you the low-down on what is going on in the hiring process

Be hungry and sure about what you are looking for and the value you add

HAVE A STRONG SPHERE OF INFLUENCE

Know key people inside and outside of your industry

Build strong relationships with friends, family and past colleagues

Give as much as you get and always be paying it forward (help other people)

Timing is everything…

While your sense of urgency is quite real, the companies doing the hiring operate under a clock that moves and a much slower pace.

Hiring takes longer.

There are fires that need to be put out which take precedence over filling an opening.

Be patient.

Switch your approach

The bottom line here is that people hire people! Period!

Reciprocity

re-sə-ˈprä-s(ə-)tē

Saying this word always trips me up. No, actually, I can’t say it at all. I put the wrong emphasis on syllables. But it is a great word! Our good friends at Mirriam-Webster define it as:

shared dependence, cooperation, or exchange between persons, groups or states.

When I talk about reciprocity during presentations on networking, I ask:

How are you building reciprocity into every encounter?

So that is my question of you today. What are you doing to incorporate a sense of shared dependence, cooperation or exchange when you meet people and let me add interview as well?

Shared Dependence

I need you and you need me.  When two people or groups depend on each other doesn’t it really boil down to trust? What can you do to create trust with someone you’ve just met?

A holistic approach to this question might be answered by don Miquel Ruiz’s “The Four Agreements”.  If you aren’t familiar with this four guiding principles, they include:

1. Be Impeccable with your Word: Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.

2. Don’t Take Anything Personally
Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won’t be the victim of needless suffering.

3. Don’t Make Assumptions
Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness and drama. With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life.

4. Always Do Your Best
Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse, and regret.

But for the engineers reading this, I realize you may need more concrete examples of behaviors that lead to trusting relationships.  Here are some:

1. Show openness and be transparent: Share what you know, but also what you do not know
2. Honor your promises: Do what you say you are going to do
3. Speak your feelings: Don’t just focus on facts, inject how you feel
4. Volunteer information: Don’t hold back information or make people pull information from you
5. Keep other people’s secrets: Don’t gossip
6. Be objective/fair: Consider other people before taking action or making decisions
7. Listen more than speak:  Be other-centric

Cooperation

We’re in this together! How can you convey this idea with those you meet?  What is the shared problem? What similarities do you have? What do you have in common with this person, personally and professionally?

Exchange

Give and take! This means the information you share during your conversation with someone is mutually beneficial. What can you do to give as much as you get?  Some ideas might include:

• Sharing a recent article.
• Opening up your network by volunteering to introduce them to someone they may be interested in knowing.
• Letting them know about a helpful resource you’ve discovered.

Every time you meet someone new, you have the opportunity to build reciprocity into the encounter.  What are some of the ways you’ve done this?

Here we are again at the start of another week! Will you drag yourself into work at a job you despise (or dislike immensely)  or maybe you are waking up dreading another week of networking and chasing after posted jobs? Wishing it all away won’t work. Ignoring it won’t make it better. Don’t you owe it to yourself to enjoy life? Here are some suggestions for how you can turn your outlook around!

Get Out of Your Rut!

Change your routine, mix it up by driving a new way to work or wake up early and take a walk. Bring your favorite food for lunch or eat outside. Watch a different news station or don’t bother getting the news today at all.  Whatever pattern of habit you are in, switch it up. Do everything differently.

Put Others First

Focus on the needs, wants or desires of someone else.  This might mean helping a co-worker with a deadline, letting a car cut in front of you in traffic (without wanting to flip them off), bring a treat to a meeting, find an organization where you can volunteer your time.

Reach Out to an Old Friend

Pick up the phone or email a friend you haven’t talked with in a while. Recall happy memories and shared experiences… just because!

Laugh a Little

Rent a comedy or watch a funny sitcom. Be sure it makes you laugh!

Do What You Love Doing

Whatever it is you love to do, create time in your day or week to do it at least once! It could be gardening, taking in a baseball game, yoga or an infinite number of other things. Go do it!

Try Something New

Eat a new type of food, read a new genre of book, take up a new sport to watch or play, listen to new music, find a new coffee shop or restaurant.

Move forward out of your slump by adding and subtracting things so you can find the right mix and feel rejuvenated, refreshed and have a new outlook!

I would love to hear what you plan on doing this week, leave a comment!

FYI: Journaling is a great way to reprogram your brain! I’ve just launched “Blue Sky Day”, a journal with 52 photos of blue skies, inspirational quotes and prompts to help you write about what really matters to you!  You can learn more about it here or order your copy here.

In order to stand apart from the crowd and get your resume to the top of the heap, you’ve heard you should find inside connections to help grease the wheel, oops, I mean facilitate the process!  You want to be a known candidate, not nameless or faceless set of key words. But your question is how do I do this? The answers include a new tool call Jackalope Jobs!

Find a Job. Find a Connection.

Let’s say you are surfing Indeed, or one of your favorite job posting sites, and you find a great job. What next? You could submit your resume and cover letter and hope and pray that your qualifications are impressive enough to generate a phone call from the company. OR you could find someone you know who works for that company to provide you with the inside scoop about why the position is available, what skills and qualifications are most important and any other insider information they can provide. Sometimes, dare I say often, job postings don’t tell the whole story. The information you gather will hopefully allow you to better customize the material you submit.  In some cases, you may even find the company has an employee referral program which insents your contact to forward your resume along.

 How to Find Connections?

Long ago, it would take a massive network (or a very well connected network) and lots of phone calls and emails to get a company insider name.  However, LinkedIn has made finding contacts and connections increasingly easier. If you need more help in using LinkedIn to people you may know at hiring companies you can read Find the Back Door for a Job Posting Using LinkedIn.

Hopefully you are constantly growing your LinkedIn network with purpose. In other words, you are connecting with people you know.  Just in case you need some reminders, here are a couple of posts for you to check out:

3 Ways for Job Seekers to Find People to add to their LinkedIn Network

What NOT to Say When You Ask to Connect with Someone on LinkedIn

Now There is an Easier Way to Do This…Jackalope Jobs

It has been said you can’t manage time. It moves forward and this you can not control.  What you can control is HOW you spend your time! If I were to dispense just ONE piece of advice to job seekers it would be…

STOP SPENDING SO MUCH TIME ONLINE!

This week, please, try really, really hard to re-structure how you are spending your time.

Suggestions for Re-Structuring Your Search

Are you uncertain what activities you should be investing your time in? Read Structure Your Week and get ideas on how you can chunk one-hour increments of time on your calendar.

Literally, Get Out of Your House! You won’t find a job waiting for you in the closet. You have to meet people! This is a blow by blow example of how you can structure your time!

And as my friend, Tom Peters says “The Calendar Never Lies”. Tom’s video explains how your calendar is a reflection of what you have done!

Employed and ready to make a change

Perhaps you are employed. How do you make time to job search?  You will want to develop a plan and honestly, you will have to give up some of your free time to work on your search. I am sure this comes as no surprise. This post has ideas on how to build a strategy!

Even More Ideas

In this Monday Motivation post, you’ll get some more ideas for how to measure activities, resources for building a list of target companies and more!

First, I would  like to thank you for checking out my blog! I hope you know how much I appreciate each and every reader who stops by! Really, I do. And the reason I write and curate information is to help educate new job seekers on the sometimes subtle and not so subtle changes in job search.

I’ve rounded up posts on different topics that I believe are important to share! If you are following me on Twitter (@CareerSherpa), you may have seen me share these posts this week. In reality, I realize that many are still not on Twitter and may have missed this advice I shared from others.  Or perhaps I overwhelmed you with my regular updates and you missed some of these. In either case, hope these help you.

Another way you can catch what is being shared on Twitter without being there is to view “Job Search Guide” on Paper.li. You can subscriber (at no cost) to get the weekly summary of job search and career articles written by the experts I follow here.

Interviewing

The 10 Best Interview Questions to Ask from Yahoo by Alison Green

Personal Branding

25 Personal Branding Tips You Can Do In 5 Minutes from JobMob by Jacob Share (@JacobShare)

Job Search

#HFChat Transcript from May 4, 2012 by Tom Bolt (@TomBolt) and HRMargo (@HRMargo) and many others!!!

The fast-moving live version is a lot of fun, but you can see the transcript.  This was the topic: “What Are Some Best Practices for a Tech Job Seeker?” The guests were from Intuit and it was hosted by Dice!

Self Leadership/Confidence

Never Let Others Define You. Never. by Ted Coine (@TedCoine) from Switch and Shift

Feeling Stuck? 5 Questions to Ask from LeadBig by Jane Purdue (@TheHRGoddess)

Networking

How to Connect When You Can’t Use Your Network from Job-Hunt.org by Kathy Simmons

What Recruiters Look At During The 6 Seconds They Spend On Your Resume from Business Insider

Image From TheLadders Eye-Tracking Study

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