Job Searching in Galt's Gulch

I went to a lecture this morning about embracing change this morning, and it was a relatively unique lecture. What I've found interesting thus far about these groups is that the primary messages seem overwhelmingly obvious, but it's some of the side, ancillary information that has really been informative.

One of the things we were asked to do was draw pictures of the first thing that came to mind when you thought about a variety of concepts. Leadership (I drew a crown.) Vision (I drew an eye.) Power (I drew a gauntlet in a fist, reminiscent of that Metallica album cover that shall not be named.)

But the one that struck me most was when the lady asked to draw what represented success. The first thing that popped into my head was a dollar sign. For a few seconds I thought, no, that's selfish, I'm not a money person. I went back to my head, and after concentrating, my mind went to a set of scales. But before I drew it, I recognized that wasn't true. Dollar sign is what I meant.

I was immediately grieved. I do not like to consider myself someone who defines their life by their ledger or back account. While money is important, there are a great many decisions I have made in my life that were not motivated by money. In general, those were the things that made me happiest.

But as I gave it more deliberation, I was increasingly okay of defining success with the dollar sign. I have read Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead and I think there is a fair amount of criticism that can be levied at Ayn Rand's work. I think it ascribes men to gods and deifies fallible people. Despite what Ayn Rand argues, Atlas wouldn't be able to shrug, the world would have crushed him.

That said, Ayn Rand juxtaposition of the taggart siblings showed why it is perfectly acceptable to associate money with success. For Dagny Taggart and the laborers of the world, money was the physical manifestation of their labors. It was the quanitifiable measurement of their contributions to the world.

But for James Taggart and the looters, money was a means to an end. It was the ticket to a luxurious life they felt they not only deserved, but what life owed them. Their meaning was not work, it was the accumulation of money. For Dagny Taggart and Francisco D'Anconia, their meaning was work, and money was its byproduct.

Without getting into a lengthy dissertation on the virtues of selfishness, in this context, it is perfectly acceptable to define success with a dollar sign. For me, if my contributions to the business world are effective and efficient, I will have generated more business for my company either directly or indirectly. Perhaps I sold more and generated more direct business for my firm. Perhaps my advertising was more effective than my competitor and differentiated our products better, generating more business. Maybe I was more ingenuitive in the engineering of my products, making them a better value than my competitors products, and earning more market share, and more dollars.

In the above analogy, my success is measured in dollars. To that end, I am not hung up on making $40000 or $400000, but it is important to me that I am compensated commiserately to my abilities and accomplishments. If a good copywriter makes $50000 a year, to pay me $12 an hour reflects that either I am not contributing successfully (and by extension achieving success) or you are dishonestly withholding from me the quantitative metrics of my labors.

If I am successful at my job, an honest employer will recognize it and compensate me fairly. If I do not perform to abilities, I will not be compensated. My internal acceptance of this is why I was able to work on 100% commission for as many years as I did. I do not desire dollars for the luxuries they entail. I only desire that I be treated with the same fairness that I treat others, and I am confident that in a quality employer, this role is fulfilled.

To that end, I don't feel like a jerk who defines his success by his paycheck solely because it allows him to buy a television that's 12" bigger than his buddy. Because I believe the fruits of my labor have value (defined by supply and demand in a macroscopic labor economy) I can morally define my success in terms of income and still be motivated by life's greater callings.

I have been filmed before a live studio audience.

I went to what I thought was a networking event, but really was more of a job support group than anything else. It was an event that somewhat surprised me on a number of fronts.

First off, I was the youngest person at this group, and it wasn't even close. At twenty nine, I pegged one attendant in her mid thirties, and everyone else was over forty. These were people definitely in a different stage of transition than I was in.

Also, while certainly I'm kind of stereotyping here, I got the impression I was dealing with a lot of people who had never faced the possibility that a job search might be in their future. Sadly, many of them stuck me as people who don't have computer skills, which are unfortunately at a premium in our modern world.

I showed up late, and the concepts were pretty basic. The moderators led a discussion on soft skills, which were basically subjective adjectives one would use to describe what you could add to an employer. Hard-working. Detailed. Integrity. It isn't as if those are bad skills -- few job positions that I've seen advertised requirements for narcissism and personal relativist ethics, but at the same time, I would have thought some of that stuff was common sense.

And because it really is common sense, what's tough in this environment is that with so many job seekers, you've got a tough row to hoe if ascertaining your soft skills holds educational value. Quite a few sites said to leave subjective qualities off your resume entirely as most hiring managers don't even give them a second thought due to the frequency with which they read them, and I tend to believe that.

Of all the advice that I read for constructing targeted resumes and cover letters, the one that I think is probably going to be the best principle to live by is that if it doesn't apply to the specific job at hand, strike it. And if the job requires "creativity" it's not enough to say you're creative, you have to cite an accomplishment you had at your previous job where you demonstrated creatvitiy.

Of course, I'm probably not necessarily fit to be dispensing advice and judgment. I still haven't had a call back from the leads I've pursued. I'm still confident that it will come, but I don't exactly have an idol of accomplishment to reflect sunlight's wisdom into the eyes of others.

I was asked to introduce myself to the group, which I was a little nervous about. After all, most of these people were laid off and lost employment involuntarily, whereas there was slightly more volition in the path that led me to where I am today. Furthermore, I anticipated resentment at the fact that I was blessed enough to have a cache of savings to buoy my career search.

The group leader asked if I felt grief about losing my position. I said that really I didn't feel any grief -- I am where I am because it was right -- but to an extent I felt stupid for failing at my previous endeavor and succumbing to the wishful thinking fallacy. Simultaneously, several members spoke up saying "why on earth do you feel that away? You are clearly not stupid." One gentleman turned around and said "you recognized the situation you were in and took a calculated risk that you vetted to the best of your abilities. Even though it didn't work out, I applaud you for that choice. I might not have had the courage to do that."

I felt a wave of emotion, and had to stifle a tear. It's one thing to have the support of your family and friends, but you sometimes wonder if their words of support are grounded in fact or merely their love for you. To have a stranger validate that I wasn't an idiot and that my career choices were valid and just relieved some of the regret I had over what has obviously caused some short term pain and discomfort.

Later in the meeding, the group leader discussed Amy Lindgren of Prototype Career Services. While I find the concept of career counseling attractive, I was resistant to pursuing it for two reasons. I think there's a lot of sharks in that industry who have no problem taking your money and telling you things you already know. Secondly, I have no wish to pay for services that if given time and introspection, I could accomplish on my own.

The group leader said that Amy, who writes a column for the St. Paul Pioneer Press, was the best in town by far. He said she's expensive, but worth it. One of the group members said that he had worked with her and considered it more than worth the investment. I was only able to find one review on line, but it basically said the same thing.

So I decided to set up the appointment. I spoke briefly with Amy over the phone about my situation, and I will be meeting with her for two hours a week from today. I asked if I could prepare a small MS Word biography so she could get a better perspective on who I am and better fine-tune recommendations with me, and she graciously agreed.

When evaluating whether to pursue career counseling, I wasn't able to find much on-line that advocated or denounced it. To that end, I hope to have something to be able to report back on whether it's positive or not. I suspect it will be, but either way, I'm excited to be able to glean some definitive information on a neglected job-seeking subject.

This is the way of the modern world

Those familiar with all things Neil know that Bad Religion has been, is, and always will be one of my favorite bands. Brett & Greg are masters at the seemingly forgotten art of songwriting, and generally craft more memorable tunes on the back half of an album than many bands write in their career. Their lyrics are thought provoking, poignant, and generally reflective of a world I consider ideal.

That said, while it is a great song, I completely disagree with Bad Religion's lyrics to The Handshake. Despite Greg's insistence otherwise, a handshake is not a subtle eff you. While I know deep down Greg hates superficial human relationships, the fact is, nobody can telepathically scan your soul for the knowledge that creates lifelong friendships. All connections begin on some sort of superficial level. It's the effort that we put into them along with a sharing of common interests and a mutual respect that blossoms superficiality into camraderie.

I recently made contact with Tim Tyrell-Smith of Spin Strategy (blog.spinstrategy.com) Tim writes a blog that is full of great advice for prospective job seekers. Not only that, he was kind enough to share personal correspondence with me. As Tim commented in yesterday's post, the world is full of conflicting advice on job-seeking, and separating wheat from chaff is frustrating work.

As someone who has read way too much now about how to do this, I think the best any prospective job seeker can do is take in as much information as they can, synthesize it, and apply it to what is right for them. While that's not an excuse to not push your boundaries, safely residing in your comfort zone, it is recognizing that inalienable truth taught to us by the Facts of Life theme song. "What might be right for you, might not be right for some. You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and there you have the facts of life."

To that end, I think Tim's website (along with Alison's advice on Ask a Manager - discussed yesterday) has offered the most sensible advice I've read thus far, at least relative to my psychology. Staying active and making contacts is critical to a job search, not just in yielding results, but in keeping you connected to the world. I've never heard of an alcoholic or substance abuser who was told they wouldn't benefit from the support of others in a similar situation. Why would the same be true for those hunting for a job?

Today was one of my most productive days yet. I found two positions that are very very close fits for my skills and abilities. One of the firms supplied me the name of the hiring manager when I called, which was a welcome first. In addition, I applied for another position wijth a very strong corporate referral that offers a lot of the things I am looking for out of a career. While I have my moments, I still remain positive and am confident that my efforts will yield results!

It was the best of times....

One of the toughest components of conducting a job search is the overwhelming amounts of conflicting advice. I'm extremely fond of looking before I leap. I don't like to approach things half cocked, and I tend to do a lot of research to make sure that I'm not doing things incorrectly. Little is as frustrating as getting a quarter of the way through a task and then realizing you made a mistake in the beginning that invalidates your hard work.

As a result, I've read a lot of books. Read a lot of articles. Talked to a lot of people. And unfortunately, you can take nearly every position on job hunting and find someone who advocates it and someone who denounces it. Justifications are usually sound, but Eisenberg's uncertainty principle can't apply in this case. Somebody has to be right, and somebody has to be wrong.

I recently spent a lot of time on the Ask a Manager blog, which I think was one of the best resources I've visited thus far. Allison Green offers concise, well reasoned advice, and authors from the perspective that I wish to learn most from - the hiring manager. If you want to learn best about how best to beat a goalie, your best resource is to ask him what is weaknesses are. It's just fortunate in this case Allison is willing to share some of the most pertinent observations in her profession.

The biggest hurdle that I currently face is that I'm still not 100% sure of the direction I want to go. I have some vague ideas, but after doing literally tons of career exercises, I don't think I have any better insight than before I started. Most job books espoused the virtues of the hidden job market, all of which are somewhat meaningless when you don't know exactly what it is that you want to do.

Consequently, I'm going to follow some counter-intuitive advice for a different reason. I'm trying to best spend my energy targeting companies with growth potential. I'm willing to accept a more junior position at a larger firm that offers opportunities for advancement. I'm staying away from the career boards in the short term, focusing primarily on the positions advertised by the larger firms on their web page.

I'm hoping that once I apply for enough jobs, I develop enough quality resumes that I'm comfortable posting them on job web pages and trolling for a little activity in that regard. In addition, i think the only way I'm going to get a handle on what I want to do is explore the jobs that are on-line, and find out what's appealing to me. If I like it, I'll apply, and if I don't, I won't. By process of elimination, I'll be able to find the positions that are most suited to where I want to be.

I have a couple potentially good leads right now. One of my good friends has told me that to an extent, this is a numbers game. And while he is correct, it's a numbers game in terms of how many accurate rifle shots can you fire, more so than how many bullets can your Tommy gun discharge.

Stomach Punch

As the saying goes, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Our friend King Hippo is a good example of this. Perhaps no fighter except for Glass Joe was easier to beat than King Hippo in Mike Tyson's punchout. Even Glass Joe though had unpredictable patterns, he was just incompetent. Once you discovered King Hippo's fatal gastrocentric flaw, anybody with basic rhythm skills was able to score one of the game's easiest KOs.

I made a trip to the workforce center today and as I was locking up the bike, two displaced workers were outside smoking a cigarette, pouring their heart out to each other. One had been out of work since January, and one had been out of work since October. The elder of the two said that during the first month he could handle it, but now he was slipping into a depression.

This conversation reverberated as I received my second rejection e-mail today for a job I had applied for. Interestingly though, at the Workforce Center, all anybody was doing was applying to jobs on-line. Another lady who was near twice my age was arguing with a counselor over why her resume doesn't need to be more than one page.

Two job-searching books that I've read, both of which written and published in 2009, discuss that 90% of time spent searching for jobs is using the Internet to respond to on-line job postings. Yet, the percentage of the unemployed who secured a new position in this way numbers somewhere between 4 and 10% and the actual figure I'd be willing to wager is worse than that.

In fact, looking back on my career, almost every job I've ever held came from me walking in to the establishment and asking to work. My friend got me a job at Best Buy at 18 working in appliances. At some point, I found out Sears was paying four times as much to do the same job. I marched in and asked an employee who I could talk to in order to get a job. I was interviewed, and hired. When I left Sears for my last employer, I did the same thing.

But what's funny is that at 29, the same courage that led me to walk into these businesses brazen and cavalier isn't there the same way it used to be, probably for the same reasons that I don't have the courage to get on a motorcycle or go offroad biking. You become conscious of your own mortality and other's perceptions. You may not have known much at twenty years old, but you didn't necessarily give a damn, and that works to your advantage.

So I understand those people that sit on job boards and apply and apply, waiting for work to find them. It has less "risk." The rejection stings less. To go into businesses is much much harder. However, in a down economy like this, it is absolutely 100% the right thing to do.

Right now, my research and focus has been more introspection driven. I need to make sure that I decide exactly what it is that I want to do with myself and my life. What will I enjoy? What can I do for forty hours a week that will not only fulfill me but somebody will throw me a check for doing? I made a misstep in judgment with my last opportunity, but the time is now to get it right.

I am confident that if I keep my head up and outwork, outthink, and outhustle my competition, the job of my dreams is there for the taking. As long as continuous effort is made, there can be no chance for anything else but results. Nobody who has found a job in this economy has credited crying and depression for their success. I've got to keep digging and digging. King Hippo has a weakness, I just need to figure it out for myself.

1.5 hour bike ride (holy cow that was exhausting)

.5 hour picking up new color toner and paper

6 hours reading The 12 Bad Habits that hold Good People Back

Must be nice to hope for the things you wish to want.

Well, I had my first official "we've bypassed you for other candidates" e-mail today. I kind of knew going into this process a little bit that it wasn't going to be free of stings and bruises - I could only hope that it's free of insanity and amputation. Still, it kind of bummed me out and I was in a head hanging mood for a little bit.

Unlike past rejections, I was able to get back on the horse relatively quickly. I applied for two more positions today. I finished reading the Career Changers guide to cowards, and managed to fit a bike ride in. I have to remember that this process is like how it requires thirty roses to extract one drop of floral oil. As long as I continue to stay motivated and work at it, I should be able to find success.

One of the positions I applied for today had a very, very long application process. It took probably three hours to navigate through everything. Not that you couldn't breeze through it in about ten minutes, but to meticulously comb through what you've entered, proofread every letter that's entered, ends up requiring a substantial amount of time the more pre-packaged information an employer requests.

It makes sense - if you're looking to get the bast candidates, well, the best ones should be able to power through the endurance tests. Still, when you've got some detail-oriented bordering on obsessive compulsive tendencies like me, it gets to be somewhat of an ordeal to ensure that everything you typed is spelled correctly and using proper grammar. It's all the worse when you don't realize until about 3/4 of the way through that if you just copy it from the web browser into your word processor and let the processor check it you can save substantial amounts of time. Lesson learned.

I've now plowed my way through about three books, and most of which have discussed you need to think, act, and operate outside the box to get a job. Passive job searching and clicking on job postings probably isn't going to be enough if that's all you do. Tomorrow I'm going to meet with a friend/mentor and discuss some of the potential choices that I've made, and we'll see if my ideas and the books ideas are on the same track.

1 hour bike riding

1 hour reading the Career Cowards' Guide to Job Searching

6 hours preparing resumes, cover letters, and applying

If you're going to ask me to prepare the meal......

I'm the guy who goes grocery shopping without a plan. I wait until I'm hungry, head out without making a list. The way one might fill up their plate at a buffet as the wonderful visuals and aromas of food lead you here and there until your plate is full of impulse. I wander around and find whatever food I have craving for that very instant, plus the occasional "oh that would be good." Invariably, 25% of what I buy spoils, and I end up settling for the same tacos I made twice the week before.

I want to make sure that my job hunt does not follow the same path. While I'm not "hungry" yet thanks to my savings, I don't want to wait until famine sets in before raiding the pantry for whatever's left. I want to make sure that I make a grocery list before I leave the house. I'd like to prepare a dish that is a little challenging, but something within my capability. Ideally, it should taste good too.

Still, when you're at the grocery store, there can sometimes be way too many choices. As a lover of fine yellow tortilla chips, I'm sometimes blown away by just how many jars of salsa once can actually choose from. Ben & Jerry's has something in the neighborhood of 400,000 flavors. Even coffee beans seem to have and endless amounts of roasts to choose from.

The bulk of my day today was spent researching the ingredients I would like to buy, or businesses I would like to work for. I would like to work for a firm who has a reputation for being a great place to work. That doesn't mean slacker country. For certain people, the ability to surf the Internet constitutes a positive work environment. I want to make sure that I have the freedom to work as hard as I can, that I'm in a climate where that's not resented by my co-workers, and that management has a good handle on when to give carrots, and when to apply sticks. I also would like to make sure tha there are opportunities for advancement and added responsibilities.

I would like to make sure that it is something I can prepare. I cannot make a smoking coq au vin at this point in my life, but that doesn't mean I won't be up to the challenge once I can make a good meatloaf. That said, I don't want to make Kraft macaroni the rest of my life. I've also made tacos way too many times, and though I'm really good at it, I think I need to expose my palate to new things. I would like to find work that is rewarding to do, that is challenging and pushes me, but not out of my capabilities, and definitely not a waste of my talents.

Now that I think I know what recipes I'd like to make and what ingredients I want, I'm ready to shop. In real life unfortunately, I don't have to necessarily cold call, work with recruiters, and network to find a grocery store. But, still, it was a pretty good metaphor. Tomorrow begins the work of convincing these fine grocery establishments that they should let me in so that I can whip up a good meal!

1 hour reading the Career Coward's Guide to Job Searching

1 hour guitar exercises

6 hours researching companies and prospective positions

1 hour researching staffing companies (backup plan)

.5 hour reading LinkedIn and LinkedIn Recruiter Blog