Slacker Manager

How to Look for a New Job

by @Stephen on July 27th, 2007

“Recent research shows that 70% of white collar workers are unhappy with their jobs, ironically they are spending an increasing amount of time working.”

~Dan Miller, 48 Days to the Work You Love

If you are not satisfied with your current employment situation, then I highly recommend this book. Miller has laid out some easy-to-follow steps that you can take to find the “work that you love”. This is not to say that the job search itself is easy, on the contrary, it is a project that needs to be approached with seriousness and dedication. In the first four chapters Miller encourages you to think about the work that you do, the life that you have, and what kind of goals you have for the future.

If you have not set any concrete goals, or if you are just getting started in the working world, this may be the hardest part of the process. I have pulled a list of developmental questions from these chapters. The answers you have will vary at different points in your career,yet I would submit that they are worth taking the time to think about at least annually.

Are you on the right track?

1. Looking at your work life so far, what has been of the greatest value or worth?
2. Do you think that your current job will exist five years from now?
3. When you daydream, what do you see yourself doing?
4. Do you go home at night with a sense of accomplishment?
5. Do you feel that something important is missing from your life?
6. Do you have a written, strategic plan for your work and personal life?

The answers to these questions can be difficult, sometimes painful to see written down in black and white. These answers, though, can go a long way toward helping you define whether you are on the right track in terms of developing the set of skills you need for a job into the passion that you have for a vocation.

I am reminded of the story of the two bricklayers, both working at the same job site. One was sullen and unmotivated, the other cheerful and enthusiastic. The foreman could not understand the difference in the attitudes of the two men, so he asked them, “What are you doing here?” the first man responded, “I am slaving away at getting these bricks stacked.” The second man had a very different answer, “I am building a cathedral.”

Replace the Job-search with a Vocation-search

Take some time to analyze your current situation, evaluate your future goals, and identify a group of companies that you think you would like to work for. How do you do this? Well, you have a wonderful resource right in front of you, the amazing series of tubes that is the internet.

Use your favorite search engine to find the companies in your chosen field. Read the articles that come up, looking for the good and the bad. There are also a handful of other resources specifically designed for getting information about companies you are considering:

• www.hoovers.com - financial information and business directory
• Moody’s Manuals
• Standard & Poor’s Register of Directors & Executives
• www.thomasregister.com - manufacturer’s annual reports
• Chamber of Commerce publications and websites

Preparation is the key to success

Choose a good-sized number of potential companies to work for, and create a “resume” for each one. This will enable you to be prepared for the four critical steps of the process of getting that job.

First, send a letter of introduction. Create a personalized letter to send to each of the companies that you are interested in. The purpose of this letter is to begin to create name recognition. Address the letter to a specific person, such as a department head or other executive. Introduce yourself by writing how you noticed a contribution that the company has made to the community or industry. Keep this letter brief and do not turn it into a pitch, it is only designed to develop the”brand of you”.

Second, send your cover letter and resume about a week after your introduction letter. Do not send this letter to Human Resources, send it to a person who makes hiring decisions. The cover letter should be brief, stating your objective, why you want to work for this company, and what skills and benefits you can bring to the organization.

Third, call to follow up. About four or five days after you have sent your resume, call the person that you sent it to. Do not leave a voice mail, hang up and call the receptionist again. Find out when the person will be in and call again. Be persistent. Miller writes that a very low percentage of job seekers follow this process, to their detriment.

The fourth and final stage of the process is the interview. This is where your initial research into the company (as well as your sparkling personality!) will pay off. For this step there are two basic rules:

1. The person who does not interview well will not get the job.
2. You must develop and practice your interview skills in order to do it well.

I cannot emphasize enough the importance of practicing your interviewing skills. The interview is not an interrogation, it is as much an opportunity for you to find out more about the company as it is for them to get to know you. Be prepared with the basics: a two-minute response to the question, “Tell me about yourself”; list three of your strengths; describe a weakness and how you work to improve; describe your relevant skills for the job; be prepared to discuss short- and long-term goals. You should have similar questions about the nature of the company and its goals, and you should write down the answers.

Remember that your goal is to find a vocation, something more than just a job. It should bring out your best qualities and engage you. There should be a healthy balance between the work and your home life. The key to the successful search is preparation and it starts with you. Clarify your goals and ambitions, look into the future and do some serious thinking about where you want to be in five and ten years. Be prepared to discuss these goals during the interview, if they are not aligned with the goals and principles of the company you do not want to work there.

Here are a few other resources that may be helpful in this process:

• How to be a great salesperson
• Goal setting tutorial
• Finding your place in the world
• Jibber Jobber career toolset

(Stephen Smith writes about Productivity, Web 2.0, and the Future of Work at his website - HDBizBlog 1.2, view his LinkedIn Profile here, and other posts on Slacker Manager: One, Two, Three.)

Share This

Related Stories

• No related posts

POSTED IN: book reviews, career, change, management, tips and tricks, work life