Tag Archives: Indianapolis

In A New York Minute

23 Mar

This networking thing is tough, isn’t it?  What if you just up and moved to a city where you knew no one?  Then it gets tougher.  I know I am always talking about my job search group but they are so worthy of being written about.  Why?  Because these people understand this job search is THEIR job, they have developed a process and all are on the cusp of a solution to their season of transition – a meaningful gig is within their grasp.  

I am going to try this again though – honestly, I realize these people do not control when they get an offer but they do control their daily plan.  They make their own success, they make their own luck.  One of the ladies in the group, recently relocated from Manhattan to the Indianapolis area.  Not as big of a move as Indy to New York City but a big move when you only know two people in town.  While Indy is no NYC, it is the 12th largest metro area in the country. 

She has been here 5 weeks.  She has been to every meeting.  She is slicing and dicing Indy’s north side and is a networking phenom.  She shows up, she contributes and most noteworthy and impressive, in my mind, is that she quickly got rid of her Yankee pride and said – I need some help. 

LEARNING – Job seekers – shed your pride.  Recently downsized – purge your bitterness.  This is an opportunity.  You control the process. 

I barely advertise this group because I want people to want to show up.  I set a time - they know to be there and we will discuss something.  Most of what we discuss is their search, their frustrations, their approach, and try to pull the answers out of them that they already possess. 

Back to, let’s call her…uh… Jill – I have seen Jill have some good days and bad days.  She has had some interviews, attends networking events, applies online and also utilizes some unconventional approaches to get herself in the door.  She is working it.  I reminded her, just this morning, to stop and reflect on what she has accomplished in the last 5 weeks.  Maybe it is that extra time she has saved commuting, but I swear she appears to have extra time in her days – plenty of time to reflect. 

I know this – Jill WILL prevail because as Rick Pitino (a famous New Yorker) said in his book – Success Is A Choice - “When you work hard, money and opportunity will find you” – and what YOU can learn from Jill’s starting over networking experience is:  

1.  You Need to Quickly Lose The Pride, People 

2.  Show Up Somewhere and Make a Contribution 

3.  You Will Have Good Days and Bad Days 

4.  Have A Process, Work Your Process, Refine Your Process 

5.  Reflect On Your Accomplishments (weekly) 

So for Jill,  a 710 mile move, 5 weeks in a new city where she now knows more than 2 people, a much larger living space, a simpler life, a car for the first time in years, free parking, a park but not a Central Park, new surroundings, new neighbors, new friends, no skyline, no Broadway, some panic, some perspective and no job YET –  but as the great philosopher Henley uttered, “In a New York minute, everything can change.”  This season will soon be a faint blip on Jill’s radar screen.

What a Touching Influence

8 Feb

As I shared with my job search group, I have been looking for jobs, for now on 13 years.  That is a lot of phone calls, a lot of emails and a lot of touchpoints with my clients. 

Being self-employed is closer to unemployed, I guess that is why I have a natural connection with the job seeker that is seeking a solution.  How can you not want to help someone that is genuinely looking for a new gig, that is really looking for a solution?  This is my threat to the employed out there – an unemployed friend or former colleague calls you – give them a minute will you?  Listen.  Encourage.  Assist.

Let’s focus on touchpoints, job seeker.  A quality job seeker understands the value of touchpoints.  These are the interactions in any form you attempt to or actually have with colleagues, hiring managers, anyone that is part of the interview process or is assisting you in your search.

Touchpoints are where you go to selling YOU without looking like you are selling and simultaneously shield the world from what you are dealing with privately, you know – all that maintenance in your life.  You have to have quality touchpoints because this job search is relational not transactional.  Sorry, canned thank you note guy- it was nice to meet you though.  Thanks for your time.  Stop looking forward to hearing from me soon.

I think you can employ a variety of tactics and strategies to get to the end you so desire.  I also believe touchpoints are individual.  We need originality here, folks.  They need to be professional yet an extension of your personality.  And while I hate the talk – job search is a game and one that you need to be in and serious about.  Some of you show up projecting  - I am no fun – and you think it doesn’t show.  We are out here on the playground and you over there going sudoku on us.

A few years ago I attended the Indianapolis 500 – you know the greatest spectacle in racing.  Makes you think there might be something there to see.  The lady in front of me was actually studying.  She had a textbook on her lap.  After she got done studying, she was knitting.  At the 500, between her 4th turn study hall she is knitting a sweater in the month of May.  Who would invite her?  The place to be yet not really wanting to be there and making herself the spectacle.  Look, she is not getting invited next year and with that attitude you are not getting hired.  Besides, no one hires people that knit at  car races.   I thought everyone knew this.

I can say –  do this and do that when you attend a networking event.  I can say when you call, have the next question – and actually ask it.  When you write a note or email, proofread it.  I can give you my 5 keys to better touchpoints but I am not feeling all - here is a panacea laced checklist – I am more of a – let’s build a system together that works for you guy.  If you would like help – call me.  If you want to respond below with something you did in a certain situation – lay it out for us.

You need a process that you can follow in this campaign of yours.  Improving your touchpoints improves your chances of getting an offer.  You can’t control it but you have far greater influence then you think you have in this game.

Headhunting Is Dead

4 Nov

It really is too bad that headhunting is gone.  I have always loved that term and finally we bury it in 2009.  Yesterday’s sense of urgency filled headhunter, recruiter dude is a soft, opportunity vending search consultant.  The flesh peddler of old, personnel pimp is nothing more than a clumsy, unassuming boy scout selling popcorn door-to-door to the willing neighbor that feels somewhat sorry for the young man on his merit badge quest.  Would you like to order?  Here is the form.   

It was so much fun while it lasted – yet it is time to put the face paint and war regalia away.  It really is a shame because the concept of headhunting makes complete sense.  Afterall, people do get paid for what is between their ears – their big brains filled with their skill set, business savvy, industry expertise and the sum total of their collective work experience.  We don’t need that though – clients can do it themselves, job seekers can be their own recruiter.  Time is abundant and nightly networking events are there for the taking.  If you are not having a little booze with your schmooze – face it – you will lose.   

Cold calling is dead too – don’t ya know?  The word “phone” has disappeared.  I have a personal communication device.  Exactly.  It’s right here with me and my butt dials it more than my fingers push 7 digits consecutively.  I can friend you on Facebook, follow you on Twitter, add you to my network on LinkedIn – all if YOU allow.  Then and only then.  It is progress but social media is taking over and well, that close human interaction of actually conversing, speaking, listening, understanding is just not the direction thought leaders are pointing us.  You can’t just reach out and touch someone.  No, no. 

I need to email you first.  I need to review a job description and get back to you sometime before Christmas.  Look, I am cringing as I write these first few paragraphs.  I love the social media stuff.  I love twitter – I have met some great people on there.  I think LinkedIn is a great tool.  Facebook is a great place for me to put pictures of my 2 cute offspring and share my drunken exploits and rock star lifestyle with my friend portfolio – and the vast number of groupies – gotta keep the groupies happy.

Yes, the landscape is changing.  Recruiters are dropping out of the biz because of all this, you can get access to people like never before, but heads are still being hunted.  Oh, yes – they are.  Here is the world according to me (I love this part) - a recruiter that “gets it” brings a sense of urgency, engaged ears, and a professional opinion that manages interactions in a depersonalized fashion.  In other words, you can’t say what I say.  The new recruiter is an artisan of seamless, defining moment creation.  Kumbaya.

The candidate experience.  Wow, that sounds heady.  The total interview experience needs a filter – a filter that manages the message, that eliminates guesswork, that spews reassurance, that capitalizes on momentum, that constantly qualifies, that looks out for selfish interest yet keeps you realistic, that only brings people together that are heading on a collision course, a filter that tells the truth and does the work.  Headhunting is not dead – it just looks a little different.  Instead of telling you that you look like crap – we walk with you to the mirror, ask you to take a good long look at your own self, describe what you see and have an image consultant waiting in the next room.  So – while I may not be hunting heads – I still carry a spear wherever I go – I hand it to you – let you impale yourself and I will take it from there. 

by Andy Gregory

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