Career advice experts are popping up all over social and traditional media with varying claims of expertise. Many lack "real" experience in career counseling or employer/employee relations and are merely opportunistic. I do not believe there is ill intent with most, but I find bad advice or incomplete advice to be worse than no advice at all. I also have a real problem with those out to exploit unemployed people - many desperate - who are down to the last of their savings or unemployment benefits.
The only thing recession-proof in today's job market recovery is the career advice field, with seminars, publishers churning out career books, and personal coaching businesses springing up in every nook and cranny of the Internet. A story in a large metropolitan newspaper on one of these self-proclaimed experts goes something like this: Susan Smith (name changed) was a free-lance writer in the entertainment industry when her career hit the skids. She needed a career makeover and decided she was a career expert and used her writing skills to get a career advice book published and launched her own blog. Poof! Now she's a full blown career coach. And many of these self-proclaimed experts are commanding fees of $500 to $1500 a month per client - not bad for a brand new profession!
An example of an ill-conceived, half-baked article recently appeared on a top Internet jobs site. It goes through eight steps to "gift yourself employment." What a powerful concept - I wish I would have thought of just gifting new jobs - it would save a great deal of effort.
Her first point, finding a job takes time and available space to conduct the search - she even suggests a local restaurant. The latter proposition is horrible advice. Restaurants are noisy, by definition you're not going to be organized well, and the restaurant and other patrons will love having you there (not). Set up a home office or a private room of a library where you can use the phone. And finding a job will take time - a simply brilliant assumption - but gives no clue about average times to find a job! Which, by the way, is roughly one month for each $10,000 of annual income you have earned e.g. eight months to replace an $80,000 job.
Second, you're going to face competition in today's tough job market - another stroke of genius. But she does offer some good advice about the possible use of your background skills and talent in a different field - thinking outside the box.
Third, put updating your resume on the "to do" list. Terrible advice. Until you update your resume and figure out your complete set of skills you can't even contemplate her advice of finding a related out of the box field to conduct your search. You can't post your resume (since it's outdated), send it to anyone, nor interview with it. This is job search 101 and the very first thing you must do. Get your resume up-to-date focusing on your skills and accomplishments and always keep it updated.
Fourth, "use social networks to, well, network." Social networking sites are strictly mediums to find names of other people, hopefully in related fields or who can connect you to potential new jobs. She says nothing about how to effectively network, which is building relationships with the people you meet online, offering to give them assistance, discovering similar interests, and common friends. This is networking. Just because you found someone's name online does not mean you can ask them for a job or to recommend you to someone else. This would be like meeting someone on the street and asking them for a job. A new online contact would be extremely foolish to recommend you to anyone until they know and trust you.
Fifth, post your resume. Not bad advice, but your resume should always be customized to highlight your skills (and key words) to the particular job you are going after. Although posting your resume on job search sites, is the electronic equivalent of adding your resume to work wanted printed ads of yesteryear - with thousands of competitors. Yes, creating your own Web site will help you to stand out - some good advice - but where you will most likely find a job is through effective networking not a job site. I have read where up to 90% of senior manager and higher jobs are not even posted outside the company and most likely involve a recruiter. This is where networking comes in to connect with someone inside a company who knows of a particular job which your qualifications are a good fit. Perhaps even getting your resume on a hiring manager's desk before anyone from the outside hears about it - eliminating competition.
Sixth, join career or job clubs. The camaraderie is good for moral support but they won't find you a job.
Seventh, hit the streets. This is some of her worst advice unless you are applying at Joe's Plumbing Supply. Professional businesses do not want you "dropping by" to hand deliver your resume, nor calling, and they state this in their HR Web sites.
Her eighth point, and last one, is probably her best - Consider something temporary. As she suggests, find a temporary employment firm that specializes in your field of work. Many times contingent work leads to full-time employment, but more importantly it gives you a story to tell potential employers about what you've been doing. It shows them you are industrious, and willing to think outside the box.
My advice is to check out the backgrounds of career counselors before you buy their products or services. Find people with real-world experience and study their material first to see if what they espouse makes common sense. I've reviewed thousands of resumes and personally recruited and hired hundreds of people, and have a couple of decades of experience with large corporations and start-ups. My experience and what I believe I can do to help countless floundering people in this tough job market is the reason I wrote a book on careers - not I'll write a book and then become a career expert.
Richard S. Pearson is the Author of 5 Necessary Skills to Keep Your Career on Track. He has held vice-president positions with four multibillion dollar travel industry companies and three Internet early stage companies. He has a BA degree from Regis University in Organizational Development. His experience has given him a unique perspective on how to navigate the organizational structures of both large and small companies. He has hired and trained hundreds of employees from frontline salespeople to vice presidents, and coached many through their careers. He is currently working on facilitating the large increase of travel between the US and China, which is taking place. http://www.5necessaryskills.com |
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