Are you too scared to find a job? This isn’t Amway!

If you are looking for a job, you must pull out all the stops. Can you relate to any of these scenarios:

- Former colleagues don’t know you are looking for a job.

- You have a large following on LinkedIn or FaceBook that you haven’t networked with.

- You haven’t checked in with past employers to see if they might be interested in rehiring you or referring you to new opportunities.

- Your resume is not updated.

I could go on and on with examples but the bottom line is this - you can’t approach your job search like you are selling Amway or any other home based business. What do I mean by this? We’ve all been approached by the person who has put together a list of everyone they know; people who will be interested in their can’t miss business opportunity. In the beginning, this person is very excited to tell everyone about what they are doing but after a couple of negative conversations they begin to get deflated. This person starts to question themselves and becomes apprehensive about what they are doing. They no longer want to talk to anyone about their business because they’ve been beaten down.

Job searching in 2009 and beyond is not a  sprint. Treat your job search like a marathon. Put another way, slow and steady wins the race. You have to do the basics including calling and emailing all of your past employers, clients, former colleagues, classmates, high school sweet-hearts, anybody and everybody because you don’t kow who is in a position to positively impact your search. And you know what, if you are still unemployed in a couple of months, call them again. Some might consider you a stalker. Some people will call you rude. If you need a job, this doesn’t matter. You have to pull out all of the stops because there is one things I know for certain — if they don’t know you are looking for a job they won’t call you with a job lead.

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Tags: Career, Career Advice, Career Facing, Duane, Impressions, Job Search

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 24th, 2009 at 3:29 am and is filed under Career Facing, Client Facing, Job Search. 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.

7 Responses to “Are you too scared to find a job? This isn’t Amway!”

1. Brian Meeks Says:
   November 24th, 2009 at 3:55 pm

   You make a very good point about not treating your job search like an ‘Amway’ pitch. In fact, I am in a position which I found through a friend. Admittedly, I didn’t do a great job with how I managed my search, and had I followed your advice I might have succeeded more quickly. But alas, I did find a job. I know that I will remember your post, should I ever need such sage advice in the future.

2. Career Management Tool Says:
   November 24th, 2009 at 3:58 pm

   Brian - appreciate the comment. In your case the time may have been pushed out but you successfully networked your way to a job and that’s the bottom line. Let’s hope others are as fortunate.

3. Irene Becker Says:
   November 25th, 2009 at 6:24 am

   I think that those who are honest will admit that looking for work can be scary, as the marketplace is candidate rich, volatile and recessionary.

   The good news is that with proper branding, positioning and the knowledge of how to work the market and hidden job market it is possible to land an excellent position.

   I work helping execs and senior managers do just that. The caveat is that success does occur in this marketplace! The important think is not to pitch, but rather to position yourself for success.

4. Career Management Tool Says:
   November 25th, 2009 at 6:27 am

   So true - positioning and also preparedness are extremely important to job search success.

5. Gary Cooper Says:
   December 2nd, 2009 at 3:55 pm

   What’s wrong with Amway? I’ve been making money with that company for 2 1/2 years. With internet sales increasing every day, so do my profits!

6. Career Management Tool Says:
   December 4th, 2009 at 7:06 pm

   Gary - if you were looking for a home based business, and Amway works for you, that’s great. But if someone is looking for a job, and is not interested in a home based business, the job search doesn’t work the same. That’s the point of the blog. Not that there is anything wrong with Amway. There is something wrong if you conduct your job search like you are marketing an Amway business.

7. Ellan Woodhull Says:
   January 14th, 2010 at 11:25 pm

   I love to read articles that are informative, Thanks again for a nice site

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