Rainy Day Job Search

by Duncan Mathison

I am in Seattle today, my old home town. I love this place with the grey skies, moss on the sidewalks and the really good restaurants tucked away on side Seattle streets with the rain dampened sound of the city and the faint sweet smell (at least to me) of low tide in the distance.

I met with a group of job seekers to talk about the hidden job market. Bright people with a lot to offer employers, but all wrestling with the job search in this truly crummy economy. One attendee observed that much of what I talk about are basic sales skills. But he also said this, “I am not a salesperson. If I was any good at sales I would be in sales.  But I am not and that’s why I find this so hard.” 

Another woman said, “If I got paid for results in the job search I would have been fired by now.”

In tough economies, hiring managers (a.k.a. “buyers”) are far and few between. When sales people have a tough time making sales, they often blame the product. The product is too new, too old, too big, too small, too expensive or too whatever. These excuses are often put forth when a salesperson is unwilling to take the blame for their own poor sales skills or lack of initiative.

Don’t get caught in the trap of blaming the product – you – for what really amounts to poor job search skills.  I get that you did not choose sales as a profession.  The good news is that you only need one “sale” or right job offer to be successful.

In sales, there are sunny days and rainy days. Sunny days are when selling feels easy and natural and rainy days are when everything feels like hitting a brick wall.  On rainy days invest time to refresh and improve your job search skills instead of berating your product.  Write out answers to interview questions you fear the most. Spend time researching employers who might have a use for people like you. Set goals and measure results in the activities that count in job search such as the number and results of networking meetings.

 Yes you are in sales but it is a temporary assignment – IF you build your job search skills.

Tags: hidden job market, job search, Re-energize the search, self improvement

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 17th, 2009 at 6:40 am and is filed under Blog, job market. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.