Interview Doctor
Networking is something many of us do not like to do, but if you want to find a new job, it is a necessity. Learn how to bust the myth of using an ineffective job search method by networking and expanding your network of connections that are necessary to find your dream job.
Recently I had someone email me asking what advice I would give someone who has been in a long-term job search.
Her specific question was, “I know you have helped a great number of people. What advice do you give to those in a long-term search? I recall your email about the person who came in second multiple times over two years before landing a job. I don’t want that to happen to me.”
This is tough. I sympathize.
I have had plenty of clients who have been laid off multiple times or spent more than their fair share of time in a job search.
There is so much going on in their heads. After a job seeker is out of work for more months than they think is reasonable, they begin thinking there is something wrong with them. They take it personally.
We know that the situation is not personal, but without information to the contrary, the human brain fills in blanks. The only possible solutions are personal. It sounds like this: “I’m too…old, young, black, white…”
This is a self-defeating mindset that undermines your confidence.
We must deal with the mindset first to put the long-term job seeker in a more positive state. Then we can tackle technique.
In my experience, the problem with long-term searches is usually the search technique. The first question I ask is, “What techniques have you been using to find your next job?”
Long-term job seekers usually talk about responding to job postings. They can often show me a 3-ring binder stuffed with responses to ads.
This technique simply does not work for job seekers. There is a 4% to 8% chance of getting a job from a job posting. Someone is getting that job, but the odds are not good that it will be you.
Networking is the best way to get a new job. Long-term job seekers must change their technique to network.
Often, they do not know how to network. They do not know what to say to people they know, not to mention people they don’t know yet.
?
Their best solution?
Not only will this be more effective, it gives the job seeker something to do, short-term goals for a sense of accomplishment, something to celebrate each week rather than waiting to celebrate when they get a job offer.
Most people do not know how to do this. Most job search groups touch on the concept of networking, but I still don’t think that most people, particularly process-oriented, quiet people, know what that means or what to do with it.
That is why I developed the Job Search Marketing Plan Bootcamp, which is going to be open for registration in a few weeks. This Bootcamp will walk participants through an effective job search to help them find their ideal job faster. Stay tuned for more details on this!
In the meantime, I invite you to join me for a free training on Wednesday, September 16th at 1pm Eastern time, “Busting 7 Myths that Undermine Your Job Search“.
?Book your spot now for this LIVE session with me; learn some new tricks to finding a job!
I’ll be sharing some of the common myths about job searches that stop people from moving forward in their job search. And you will learn ways to see progress so you are not stuck in a long-term job search and instead, find that job you are seeking.
This training offers solutions to help you avoid falling into the myth trap and instead change your approach to searching for a new or another job. Be sure to join me!
About new career opportunities. Wouldn’t that be ideal? Recruiters contacting you?? It happens … when you have your LinkedIn profile set up in a way that gets you noticed and found!
Your LinkedIn profile is important, especially if you are looking for a new job or career opportunities. You need to grow your connections so that you can find opportunities and so that recruiters can find you.
This exact thing has happened to many of my clients because they took the time to set up their LinkedIn profile so they could make these opportunities possible. They know looking on Indeed, CareerBuilder, and other sites is NOT the best way to find a job.
One of the myths of job searches is that the best way to find a new job is through online job posting sites. This could not be more wrong. I’ll be sharing some of these myths in an upcoming training, so stay tuned for that announcement later this week, but in the meantime, today’s video lesson shares advice and tips on how to get your LinkedIn profile noticed.
Our training program, Inside Scoop on LinkedIn for Job Seekers, will provide you with high-value information, job search strategies and tips, plus the secrets behind using your LinkedIn network to find the perfect job – literally – the inside scoop you need to find a job!
Click here for all the details.
Dear Interview Doctor,
I understand that you recommend job seekers avoid talking about salary as long as possible in the job search and interview process. That makes perfect sense. We don’t want to be eliminated too early. But we all know that we can’t put it off forever. How can I discover salary information for a specific role in an S-corporation in northern Ohio? Is there a research tool that I can use?
~ Confused but trying to be smart
Dear Confused Smartie,
Good question!! You are correct that you want to deflect salary questions as long as possible.
NOTE: The only exception is when you are talking to a headhunter, an external professional recruiter. They need this information immediately. They might exclude you from consideration if you deflect, so be judicious in how you handle this information.
You should practice deflection when you are talking to company representatives. You want them to fall in love with you first!
When you talk salary, you want to talk about a range. We call that a “market range.” This is the range of salaries people commonly are paid for this line of work. The market range is NOT the rate of pay you received in your last job. Your last rate of pay might or might not be within the range. But a company is likely to pay you what it must pay according to the market of what other people are getting paid.
Make sense?
I recommend researching salaries using one of the salary survey tools. These services get salary information by statistically tabulating surveys of actual salary data.
I used to use Salary.com all the time because it is easier to use. But a friend who specializes in compensation says this service is not as up-to-date these days. I tested this theory recently and got very different results from salary.com and another tool. So now I use it carefully. But it is still the easiest salary tool to use.
Payscale.com is more accurate, in my experience. Payscale allows the user to search by geography and size of organization, which makes the results even more accurate. I recommend this tool to get the specific detail you seek.
There is no one salary number that is correct. Both services provide a range of salaries. The survey will show you the lower end (called 25%) and higher end (called 75%) of the range of salaries paid these days for the job in question. The midpoint (50%) is the median. I will not get into statistical theory here but, suffice it to say, these are statistical labels.
Most companies choose not to pay above the midpoint. So if a range is $70K at the 25% mark (the lower point on the chart), $85K at midpoint, and $100K at max, then assume the company is not likely to (they do not want to) pay a salary too much more than $85K (the midpoint). Make sense?
We encourage candidates to use this information in their negotiations once they can no longer deflect the salary question. It sounds like this:
“The market range for this position is $80K to $90K. I am comfortable in that range.“
The lowest number the candidate provides is the lowest number the candidate is willing to accept, within that range. Ok?
The lowest number does not have to be your actual last salary or the 25% mark on the salary. That information is your business. You do not have to share it (except with headhunters, remember?).
Every day we have another reminder that life is not perfect in the USA. Racial injustice. Inequality. Illness. Quarantine. Frustration. Anger. Explosive conflict.
Those with power do not like to share. Progress only comes from conflict.
Some of my earliest memories were my mom and dad whispering in my ear how I can do anything I want to do – be anything I want to be. I believed them. I never thought twice about going to college for advanced degrees. I became a professional in a man’s field, a railroad labor relations officer, one of a few women in the room. I assumed I could do anything I wanted.
My mom was denied the opportunity to be a doctor in the 1940’s because she got married. Her work options were to be a nurse or a teacher. She chose teaching. Despite her encouragement, never in her wildest imagination did she think I could be a business leader, much less have the success I achieved. She was terribly proud of me!
I am a white woman who took what she wanted. All my successes are built on the backs of women who went before me. I saw no limitations because the generations of women before me fought hard to make my choices possible.
The 19th Amendment to the US Constitution prohibits discrimination in voting rights based on sex giving American women the right to vote. The amendment was ratified on August 18, 1920, and certified on August 26, 1920, 100 years ago!
The fight was real and took years. The first women’s suffrage campaigns began in 1869 after the civil war, after the 14th Amendment was passed in 1868 guaranteeing citizenship to all male persons born or naturalized in the US. The 15th Amendment passed in 1870 prevented states from denying the right to vote on the grounds of “race, color, or previous condition of servitude,” but this only applied to men, not women.
Just like racial and social justice fights happening today, the fight for women’s suffrage was real, bloody, and violent. White men in power did not want to share. The arguments against women’s suffrage read like the arguments against social justice today. They argued that women did not need special treatment because everything was fine the way it was. Sound like arguments we hear today about social justice and Black Lives Matter?
It took years of protests, marches and, yes, violence, to achieve the right to vote on August 26, 1920.
Today we say thank you and celebrate the women (and men) who fought so hard to get us the right to vote. These fights led to broad-based modern day acceptance of concepts of economic and political equality, and social reform. We are thankful, but we cannot be complacent.
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