[jsfg_cinti] Some interesting advice

Supercharge Your Job Hunt, with author Nick Corcodilos

Dear Network Mover:

Job-hunters, are you tired of banging around the job boards? There's a
better way, according to Nick Corcodilos, and it involves professional
networking.

Corcodilos, himself a headhunter, is the author of Ask The Headhunter:
Reinventing the Interview to Win the Job (Plume, 1997). He also runs the Ask
the Headhunter free weekly newsletter and Web site. Nick speaks publicly to
groups that include professional associations and, at one time, a roomful of
900 mutual-fund managers. Since 1995, Nick has answered more than 15,000
questions from his readers and he recently agreed to answer a few more from
NetworkMoves.



Nick Corcodilos' Six Ways to Super-Charge Your Job Search:
1.      Lose the Resume: That's about your past. Instead, focus on what you
can do for hiring managers in the future.
2.      Headhunters Can't Help: Waiting for a headhunter to call is like
waiting to win the lottery. Hey, it could happen. . . .
3.      Skip the Job Boards: It's a numbers game you'll have a hard time
winning. In a recent survey, companies say only 1% of new hires come in
through Monster, HotJobs, etc.
4.      Use Your Network: But remember to give before you receive. And don't
drop contacts like a hot potato once they've helped you.
5.      Expand Your Network: It's the people you don't already know who can
do you the most good. Reach beyond your inner circle.
6.      Work to Get Work: Before a job interview, research the company, the
hiring manager, the competition, the industry. Wow 'em with your insider's
knowledge. Explain how you'll help make them more profitable.

Q: What's the Ask the Headhunter approach all about? Why are you opposed to
traditional resumes and job interviews?

A: Resumes and traditional interviews are great when you want to be one of
thousands of candidates waiting to be processed. When I first got good at
headhunting, I would call a client to discuss a candidate I'd found for him.
We'd schedule the interview, and no resume exchanged hands until the company
needed information to "fill in the blanks" about the candidate. That's when
it dawned on me that resumes are wasted paper. The only reason people use
them is that they don't have good relationships in their professional
community. That's what a company is paying for when it retains a good
headhunter: trusted relationships. That's why your resume will sit unread in
a stack on a manager's desk while my candidate is in a meeting with the
manager, talking shop?or mulling over a job offer.

When you want a job, it really is who you know, though not in the mercenary
sense. No one hires their friend's nephew just to be nice. But everyone
prefers to hire a worker who's recommended by someone they trust. That's
what a good network is. If you violate trust and judgment and screw someone
in the network, you're out. Participate honestly, and your bank account is
always full.

Q: What should job-hunters do instead of sending out resumes?

A: Spend time with people who do the work you want to do. Enter their
circle, show them who you are and what you can do, and they will promote you
in their professional community. No paper is required.

It boils down to profit. That's what all business is about. Even nonprofits
have to get more out than they put in, whether you're talking about money or
success by any definition. Members of a professional community turn to one
another for help when they're hiring people. They'd rather talk to the right
people than read resumes. They'd rather see proof of your ability to produce
profit than your ability to answer questions in a job interview.

Resumes, traditional interviews, and job descriptions are not necessary or
even desirable when you want to win a job or hire someone. The ability to
produce profit is all that matters. Plus, it's much more fun?and profitable
to go after a job by talking to people about how you can make them more
profitable.

Q: Isn't one of your ideas that job candidates should come to an interview
with an approach to helping the hiring company? Less "what can you do for
me?" and more "how can I help you?"

A: The typical job hunter views companies as entities that give out jobs.
That's not to knock people hunting for jobs; we've all been brainwashed to
believe that. But I teach people to approach a company the way a consultant
would.

A friend of mine, Gerry Zagorski, tried my approach after I wrote my book. I
explained to Gerry that when you hand a manager your resume, you're saying
in effect, "Here's my history, my experience, my credentials. Now you go
figure out what the heck to do with me." Instantly, he got it. He went to
his interview, shook the manager's hand and said, "I'm glad to meet you and
glad to answer any questions you have. But I'd like to ask for 15 minutes
during our meeting to show you why I'm here." The manager looked at Gerry as
if he were an alien and said, with a wry grin, "Sure. Why wait? Go right
ahead." In other words, here's the rope, go hang yourself.

So Gerry went to the whiteboard and drew some pictures. He outlined his
understanding of the guy's business?this was AT&T Wireless when it was still
Cellular One?and the problems and challenges the manager faced. Then Gerry
outlined the tasks that needed doing. Next, he showed a plan for how he
would do them. At the bottom he wrote a number showing how much profit he
thought he could bring to the bottom line by doing what he said he'd do.

The manager's jaw was on the floor from the first minute. He took Gerry into
a conference room, brought in his team, and they all rolled up their sleeves
and worked together to develop Gerry's plan. Needless to say, Gerry was
hired.

Q: Didn't that involve a lot of homework for Gerry?

A: That's what I mean by "do the job to win the job" and "deliver profit."
It took Gerry two weeks to produce that 15-minute presentation. But Gerry
wanted that job. He was fascinated by the business. And it showed in both
his motivation and his presentation. If you can't do that in an interview,
don't go.

This is not rocket science. You need do nothing more in an interview than
what you'd do at your job. But that's the key. You can't do anything less,
either. Otherwise, why should the manager hire you?

Q: What's wrong with cruising the job boards and sending out resumes? Isn't
that what most people do? It must work, right?

A: The job boards are the biggest racket going. Why do I say that, if
they're making so much money? Because the money they make is not an
indication of their success in filling jobs or helping people find jobs.

The job boards are a racket that the human-resources profession has bought
into lock, stock, and barrel. With a few notable exceptions, HR departments
are bureaucracies that operate to ensure their own survival. HR departments
don't hire people; they process resumes. Post your job opening on a job
board, and you get 10 million resumes to sort, stack, and file. It keeps HR
employed.

But the jig is up. Surveys by Forrester Research and CareerXroads finally
revealed what my readers have told me for years: Even in the heyday, only
about 7% of people who used the boards got jobs that way. Worse, companies
polled admitted that no more than about 1% of their new hires came from
Monster, CareerBuilder, HotJobs, and Headhunter.net. You'd do as well
standing on a corner and handing out fliers.

Q: You also say headhunters can't help most job-seekers. Why's that?

A: Headhunters don't seek jobs for anyone. They don't even seek out
job-seekers. Good headhunters devote their time to very narrow, very
specific searches. They don't want or need thousands of resumes. They're
busy talking to half a dozen experts in the field they're searching in.
They're using personal contacts to identify specific people. Don't call us;
we'll call you. And don't be offended: The lottery commission doesn't call
you every day, either.

Q: So if the job boards don't work and headhunters don't work, is the
alternative networking?

A: Here's the best networking advice I got, from the guy who first hired me
into the search business. Harry Hamlin was a simple, brilliant guy. Here I
was, fresh out of grad school, where I'd been living on a $3,200 annual
stipend. Suddenly, I was making money. I asked Harry, "What's the secret to
the business?" Know what he said? "Do favors for people. That's it. Don't
expect anything in return, because that takes care of itself. But you have
to be patient. Just be nice to people."

I remember him grinning, then adding, "But there's one more thing. Spend
every nickel you make this year taking people to lunch. Spend it all. Just
sit and listen. Learn all you can. Don't expect anything. Don't ask for
anything. Make friends."

I was pretty naïve and I wanted to believe that this was what business was
all about. But know what? Harry was absolutely right. He was a pure
capitalist. No expectation of return?but invest everything you have. It'll
come back to you.

You can't network when you need something. Networking is not about getting
help or even giving help. It's about being with people. It's about being
part of a professional community. When most people "network," they're
looking for a job. They call all their contacts. After they find a job, they
don't bother staying in touch. They could run into you on the street, and
they'd never say hello. They don't need you.

Q: What should they be doing instead?

A: People think networking is calling everyone in your Rolodex, but that's a
misconception. The point of networking is to meet new people. You'll find
that the most productive contacts are those farthest from the center of your
network?or your Rolodex?the people you don't know. Network science shows
that people in your personal network tend to know one another?they're not
productive contacts when what you need is to meet new people. To expand your
contacts, you must identify and call people you don't know. That's real
networking. It's what a good headhunter does.

Q: Since 1997, when you wrote Ask the Headhunter, the job market has
worsened dramatically. Has this caused you to update or modify your
approach?

A: No. There's nothing to modify. How can changes in a job market that was
broken to begin with have any meaning? Ask The Headhunter is not about job
hunting; it's about contributing profit through your work and demonstrating
your ability to do that. The one thing that's become painfully evident since
the end of the dot-com boom is how important profit is. But it's always been
important?lots of people just pretended it wasn't.

That said, you must accept that finding a good job in 2003 is a tough gig.
But you can't sit around blaming the economy. That's just nonsense. The
economy is what it is. Deal with it. The stupidest aspects of traditional
job hunting (and hiring) reveal themselves in an economy like this. Tons of
resumes, clever interview repartee, millions of job postings?all that is
fluff. In a booming economy, all that stuff works fine because companies are
hiring anyone and everyone. But in a bad economy, we quickly see that a
million resumes don't help an employer make money. Clever answers to stupid
interview questions don't help an employer get a job done.

Q: In a recent article, you said that in this economy, starting a company
might be the best way to get hired. Sounds like a mental puzzle. Can you
explain?

A: This economy actually forces people to sort of invent the Ask The
Headhunter approach for themselves. They can't get jobs, so they do the
natural thing and try to start a business. What does it take to start a
business? You need a concept, a business plan, and proof that it will
work?that it will produce profit. Otherwise, who will give you money? Not
investors and not customers. So you must bust your buns to produce this
plan, this demonstration of your wonderful abilities.

Now what have you got? You have what the smartest job hunter has: material
for your job interview. In the process of producing a plan to start a
business, you show how you'd "do the job." In courting investors and
prospective customers, you've proved your concept and yourself. You've gone
a hundred miles beyond the typical job candidate, who sits and answers
canned questions with clever answers culled from a book called, "10,000
Tough Interview Questions & Answers." While delivering this plan to a savvy
prospective customer, a business partner, an investor, a supplier, or a
competitor, you will encounter some who will want to hire you for their own
company?or to avoid the competition you represent.

Q: Any advice for the long-term unemployed? What can they do today to find a
job?

A: Stop hunting for a job. In this economy, companies avoid giving out jobs
at all costs. You can see that for yourself. Instead, create a job for
yourself. Pick an industry, then a business, then a company. Take a look at
the company's products, its operations, its vendors, its customers. Figure
out what problems and challenges the company faces as it tries to produce
profit. Figure out how you can help.

Now draw up a little plan?words and pictures that show how you can help that
company. In that plan, show what you can do and how you will do it. Forget
about titles and job descriptions. Think about profit?the dollars you can
squeeze out of the things you will do day one, week one, by six months, and
after a year. At the bottom of your plan, write a number: the added dollars
you think your plan will bring to the bottom line.

Then go talk to the manager of the department that you're ready to help.
Don't have an interview. Show him what you can deliver. I've described this
to lots of managers. Not one has ever told me they'd kick you out of their
office. They want to hire people who can help their business be more
successful. Your challenge is to show them how.

This is what makes job hunting as much hard work as the job you want. You
must be able to do the job to win the job. If you want to make job hunting
easier than that, there's this site I know called Monster.com that will help
you waste all the time you want.


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