This week I am interviewing Joe Rohde. Joe has had a great sales career and agreed to chat for a bit about what’s been successful in his job search.

First, can you give an over view of your background and the circumstances that led to your unemployment?

My experience was continuous growth which alternated between startups and established companies. Typically my success was in establishing the ‘early adopter’ customers for new technologies and products. The immediately previous 14 years were spent starting and running a company, located in the California foothills, acting as a reseller for a set of products and services that changed over time. This lent itself well to having a lifestyle balance, raising kids and helping with grandchildren, and we also made a very good living. Ultimately things changed, resulting in that company being merged with a MSP and after effecting the transition it was time to re-set my career. It was a strange to be ‘looking’ for a job as in the past I’d generally been referred into my next position.

What was the first thing you did when you started looking for a job?

There were actually several months that I took for myself before commencing my search. When I decided it was time I took the typical steps today of subscribing to job boards, researching companies and applying directly (electronically and direct snail mail) and also engaged a firm to assist in the search. None of this met with any substantial success. With the depth of the talent pool these days it seems there has to be an exact match between skills, experience and education to even make it through the screening technology. It was frustrating as I knew that in the interview process I’d shine.

What was the most valuable or successful thing you did to land the job?

Becoming frustrated with the lack of prospects I looked at ways to make myself more valuable and took several online courses, specific to sales skills and tools. This led to attending local events put on by vendors (NOT job fairs) where I could make personal contact. It was at one of these events that I was introduced to an entrepreneur who had interesting technology and that needed some business development help. Since he was bootstrapping the company there was no compensation other than commissions that would be earned. After getting some decent traction for that product that same entrepreneur introduced me into my current employer. Basically I took the opportunity to show what I could deliver and that led to a great new job with a talented crowd of people.

The actual act of working productively, not just working at finding a job, did a lot to reinforce my ego and bolster confidence in my abilities.

How long were you unemployed?

The total time was about 9 months. The first 4 of those were absorbed by taking time off purposefully followed by a death in the family. I really got started at the first of this year.

What advice, based on what you’ve gone through, would you give someone who is looking?

Actively pursue and expand your social connections. You can never tell where they’ll lead, plus it can be very isolating when you go from the social aspect of having co-workers to being on your own in front of the computer.
And take a flyer when something interesting comes along. You can still job search, but the act of work can be gratifying on it’s own. As a friend and advisor likes to say, “You can’t count the apples in a seed.”

A couple of valuable lessons here for folks to consider. If job boards or recruiters aren’t working, push the envelope. Depending on your situation, it may make sense to take a “flyer” as Joe did (commission only or volunteer role) to show what you can do. As we can see, these can often lead to a paying job. Lesson #2 - expect to get frustrated in your job search. But don’t let that frustration derail you. Joe used that frustration to re-invigorate his search.

Joe - thanks again for taking the time to chat and share your experiences. We wish you continued success!

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Gina and I met while networking on LinkedIn. She is someone who has successfully found multiple jobs this year who was happy to share her experience with us.

Gina -

Thanks again for volunteering for this. Can you give the folks a quick over-view of your background and the circumstances that led to your unemployment.

My background is Marketing and Administration. I have moved from High Tech Marketing in the Bay Area, to Newspaper Marketing, to Retail Marketing throughout my career. I also have a background as an Executive Assistant with an emphasis in event planning. I hold a Bachelors of Business Administration from University of San Diego. I took a voluntary buyout from the local newspaper to pursue other interests after sixteen years with the same company. I felt it was time to try something new. I landed my new Retail Marketing job within 3 weeks of accepting a buyout offer. I left the Retail Marketing position after 8 months, and in two weeks, was employed again, this time in the health care industry. So this is the second job search I have done in the past year.

So you are very aware of how tough the market can be. What was the first thing you did when you started looking for a job?

Fortunately, the newspaper industry is a great place to network. I had planned to leave the paper within the next few years, and had started my networking much earlier. I also built my Linked In network prior to the buyout. Our company provided outplacement counseling and I took full advantage of that. I targeted high growth companies and searched for a Marketing/Communications position where my colleagues had successfully secured positions. After I had my resume complete, I talked to everyone I could think of about career opportunities, then started sending my resume out online. I personally called my contacts and secured my references before I left the newspaper. 

Can you share with us what you consider to be the most valuable or successful thing you did to land the job?   

Networking - It is all about who you know. When I targeted a particular company, I would look through my contact list to see who I knew within the company, or who could give me an introduction. I am a firm believer that sending in a resume “blind”, through a website, is not the best way to apply for jobs. You really need to know the players, who can make it happen for you? I also did not limit myself to the corporate environment to network. Every day is a new networking opportunity. The grocery store, the gym, my daughter’s tennis team. You never know who that person is who can help you, or who you can help in return.

How long were you unemployed? 

I was employed by the time my buyout was complete, and employed the 2nd time within 2 weeks.

Gina - I really appreciate your time. Wrapping this up would you give someone who is looking for a job?

Don’t be afraid to ask for a recommendation. Don’t limit yourself to one job description, and network, network, network.  It is all about who you know. People genuinely want to help you, and you just need to put yourself out there and ask.   You are selling yourself, so do not be afraid to market yourself! Talk to everyone you know. Someone knows someone who is hiring; even now. I am a true believer in Linked In, and I also would recommend the free class Linked In offers to job seekers. Also, thank everyone along the way who has helped you, and return the favor if you can some day.

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Ross -

Thanks again for being a part of this little social job search experience.

First, can you give a brief over view of your background and the circumstances that led to your unemployment?

My background is in IT sales, specifically as a software sales executive in my most most recent position.  The company is national and my territory was the southeast USA.  Due to the declining US economy and the effects on the company my position was eliminated as part of a company-wide reduction in force.

That sounds like a story that has unfortunately been repeated many times. What was the first thing you did when you started looking for a job?

The first thing I did when I got laid off was to update my resume and started using job boards like Indeed.com and SimplyHired.com that pull job listings from multiple boards.  I posted my resume to traditional boards like Monster and Careerbuilder.  I did a Google search in the first couple of weeks to find networking events in the area and started attending events from there.

You decided to go the more traditional route. What was the most valuable or successful thing you did to land the job?

Utilizing the contacts I met at the networking events as well as using LinkedIn are the most valuable things I did to land my new job.  The job was posted in the Jobs section of LinkedIn and I was able to learn a tremendous amount about the position before the interview from an insider at the company who I also met through LinkedIn.  I would not have met the insider through LinkedIn without developing relationships at the networking events, so networking is the most valuable.

How long were you unemployed?

I was unemployed for about 3 months.

What advice, based on what you’ve gone through, would you give someone who is looking?

I would recommend to post your resume to Monster and Careerbuilder but not browse their job postings.  I used Indeed.com once or twice a day to present a compilation of postings from several boards and company websites.  There are recruiters that look up resumes on job boards, so you should still have your resume out there.  Attending local networking events is crucial.  At every event I attended I either met someone that could help with my specific job search or I learned something new.  Even if you don’t meet someone that can help or learn any new information, you still meet people that you can connect to on LinkedIn.  The more contacts you have in LinkedIn, the more likely one of your contacts is connected to someone at a target company.  You need to find an insider at every company or organization that you apply to if you expect to be contacted.  There are hundreds or thousands of other people that apply to the same job and you have to somehow jump to the front of the line.

So here we have someone that used job boards, networking and social sites (ie LinkedIn) to actually find a job. Good to hear from someone who has had success using these tools.

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Joerg-

Thank you again for taking the time to share with us what you’ve done to land your job.

Can you give a brief over view of your background and the circumstances that led to your unemployment?

My background is electrical engineering, my degree is from RWTH Aachen University in Germany. I specialize in analog circuit design, something that some of our professors told us would be a dying art. Of course they were wrong and I knew it but many others believed them. Then I started my career at Squibb Medical Systems, designing parts of medical ultrasound machines.

I was not unemployed. What happened was that my first employer closed their whole R&D facility in Europe. They offered us jobs in the US but the deal wasn’t all that attractive. So I became self-employed. Loved it. Back then I was able to turn a profit for my first year although I was only self-employed only the last six months of that year. This really baffled the tax folks (they called, asking if that was really true).

Thanks for the background and clarification. What was the first thing you did when you started looking for a more permanent or full time opportunity?

For my first job I compiled a binder with brief outlines, photos and schematics of all the hobby projects I had completed. Plus summer job projects as far as I was permitted to disclose them. Other students and even faculty at the university said this would be silly and I’d be ridiculed. Not so. At my first interview a hiring manager was poring over this binder, became really interested. I nailed it. Later when this manager’s car was in the shop and I gave him a ride home he said “Hey, can we swing by your house? I want to see that monster amplifier you had in your binder when you interviewed last year!”

Interesting approach. Why did you chose to do that?

It shows potential employers that you can organize your work all by yourself, get the design done and tested, plus furnish proper documentation. So they saw that they didn’t have to teach me to do that, they could just toss me into the pool and I’d be able to swim.

What was the most valuable or successful thing you did to land the job?

This binder, for the first job. Later when self-employed I wrote proposals. Whenever I saw something in whatever branch of the electronics industry where I thought “Hey, this could be done much better” I found out who the upper managers were at a particular company, or the CEO. This was not so easy in the 90’s but now with Internet it is very easy. All you have to find is the typical email prefix convention, the correct spelling of the person’s name, and bingo. Usually. It doesn’t work 100% of the time but then there is always the mail.

A proposal can take up to a week which is unpaid time. I try to condense mine into a maximum of 6 pages, or three double-sides sheets. No fluff, cut straight to the chase. This has landed me numerous consulting assignments and the best job I ever had (upper management).

What advice, based on what you’ve gone through, would you give someone who is looking?

Don’t shy away from he more unusual methods of contacting upper managers. Don’t listen to others when they say it’s a stupid idea. Try to get to talk to some managers at trade shows, not at job fairs where they usually won’t be present anyhow. But only do that when you have some ideas for their business, else they’ll politely end the conversation with some small talk.

I would not use platitudes in resumes, things like “team-oriented person”. I find it more important to outline achievements and personal goals, and where exactly you believe you could contribute.

Hint for engineering students: Get cracking with that solder iron. Build stuff. Just learning theory and simulations isn’t going to cut it. Try to land a technical summer job, not serving guests at some restaurant. Yeah, the tips may bring you more money but future employers will be much more impressed if you can say “I designed a so-and-so gizmo at SuperDuper Corporation” or “I worked on an oil rig” (I did both).

Think about whether self-employment is for you. It’s not for everyone but it is a very viable path for engineering and similar professions. Be frugal. I bought almost everything second hand. Desks, equipment, gear, and so on. Curb convenience expenses. No, you don’t really need cable TV, the daily stop at the coffee shop, and a pricey gym membership can often be replaced by chopping your own firewood, hiking and so on. Heck, I even have a prepaid cell phone for business. Costs me about five Dollars a month. We have no cable TV or satellite, my car is well past 10 years and in perfect shape, I use CostCo phone cards for business long distance calls. Not that I have to, but by choice. Resist the temptation to live from check to check, because one day an expected check might not show up. And don’t forget health insurance which can be the big show stopper for self-employment. If you have known risk factors or had too much illness in the past most likely you’d be unable to get any.

Last but not least give back to the community. Volunteer. Be active. My wife and I mostly do this through our church and it is very rewarding. Money is not the most important factor in life.

Joerg - thank you again for your thoughts and insights. Your approach has obviously worked for you and could do the same for others. If anyone would like to reach out to Joerg, feel free to contat him through his site http://www.analogconsultants.com/

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