Group: Welcome, Jonathan, to Job Seekers Anonymous.
Me: Anonymous? Wait...I'm in the wrong meeting. I don't want to be anonymously searching for a job. I want people to know that I'm looking for a job.
Group: You want people to know? You aren't embarrassed and ashamed to be unemployed?
Me: Well, I'm not saying I'm happy that I was downsized, but by no means do I want to keep this a secret. I want everyone to know that I'm looking for a job in Human Resources. That's how I'm going to get my next job. Don't you all feel the same way?
Group leader: No, I mean, uh, I'm...we're all looking for jobs, but anonymously. You know, using Monster or CareerBuilder, and the classified ads. We're confident that a job will come along one day for us.
Me: I’m going to go out on a limb and say that hasn’t worked for you at all, has it? You really should be doing some networking. It's the way to go. I wrote a great blog post about it last week (http://bit.ly/NetworkingBlogPost) that promotes the value of networking. But the one thing it didn't mention enough was self-promotion. You have to let anyone and everyone know that you’re looking for a job. Employment isn’t going to fall into your lap. You have to make it happen. You never know who you’re going to talk to that will say “Oh, yeah, Jonathan, I know so-and-so in HR, and she’s definitely looking for an HR Manager with your background. Here’s her contact info.” Sitting at home and waiting for it to happen isn’t good enough.
Group leader: But you aren’t ashamed when you do that?
Me: Have you read the news lately? Do you know that the economy sucks and that over 10% of the available workforce is unemployed? That’s one out of ten people. It’s not like having the plague; it’s unemployment – and it’s very common these days. There’s even a new term for it: “in transition.”
Group leader: “In transition.” That doesn’t sound so bad. I could tell people that I’m in transition without feeling bad.
Me: There you go. Now get out there, tell people you’re in transition, and you’ll start meeting new people left and right. Soon enough, you’ll have a great new job, and you’ll be able to pass along the great lessons you learned and practiced from reading My HR Job Search to your friends in transition. Then you’ll look like the job search guru, even if you learned it all from me.
Group leader: Thanks, Jonathan. It’ll be our little secret.
Me: Well...in the job search community, there should be no secrets. Good information is for everyone. So please, share what you’ve learned from me by sharing my blog and Twitter (@myhrjobsearch). And if you know of anyone looking for an MBA-level HR Manager, have them contact me directly. Thanks!
[Author's note: THAT is what you call self-promotion!]
Jonathan, once again you have me cracking up, but you state some serious truths. Jobseekers across the U.S. are facing downsizing--you'd think they'd want to unite to face the search rather than fade into the woodwork.
ReplyDeleteThe other truth is that networking works. I cold called a few people today with about a 50% success rate and uniform warm reception. Jobseekers, warm up those cold feet, pick up the phone, and remember that the individuals on the other side are just...people.
Thanks again for the insight from "the other side" (but we'll always be on the same team!),
Amy