The buckshot approach basically consists of throwing all you’ve got to all the possible avenues there are for finding work and hoping something sticks.  It means applying online to every job that you fit, while massaging your resume to match the keywords that automated programs will look for in digging out a hundred candidates out of the thousand that will be weeded out in applying for each job.  It means broadening your network, attending events, seminars, your synagogues and churches, handing out business cards, developing a social media strategy, honing and rehoning your resume and also developing sniper skills through target practice.  That means setting your sights on particular companies and working to get a foot in the door — through connections, phone calls, applications, internships, etc.  It’s a crazy-tough job market improving at a snail’s pace, with that many more people going to work each day wondering if they’ll be pink-slipped before day’s end.  One tiny note in the article referred to the lost courtesy of sending rejection letters.  The other day, a friend of mine actually received a rejection letter and was bizarrely delighted (because she was rejected) that the company  did take the time to tell her she wasn’ t the right fit for them. 

That courtesy, of sending letters of rejection, got me thinking.  Which is worse?  Getting hundreds of letters of rejection as a testament to your failed attempts at finding work?  Or just being ignored, which would be like the guy taking your number, in line, at a grocery store, and just never calling?

I thought back to 1990.  The year I moved away from my career in film (and Toronto) to a transition, through marriage, and a move (to Ottawa).  My husband had a job, which is why we moved, and I had decided to forsake my film career and make a move to the regular business world.  This was just at the beginning of personal computers.  I didn’t yet know how to use Word 4.0, owned a PS1 with one video game.  No one was applying for jobs online — heck no one was posting online.  There was no Monster, no Careerbuilder, no Indeed or Simply Hired.  I was a Kelly Girl (temp) and looking for a job with no transferrable skills.  Since I was living in the nation’s capital, it only made sense to try to find a job in government, so I dutifully sent out about 400 letters and resumes to every member of parliament I could get an address for.  And I received…oh…just about 400 rejection letters.  There were so many of them, this testament to my failure, that I really got discouraged and depressed.  I was just about to toss them all in the garbage, when I decided, instead, to use them as wallpaper in my dismal little basement office.  Heck, figured it would be good for a laugh and brighten up my walls with the crisp white and linen stationary.  So I took a day and glued and papered and there were enough rejection letters to paper a complete alcove.  It made me feel kinda good — in a bizarre and cynical way.  In any event, I’ve not forgotten the experience or how crushing all those letters were to my already fragile ego.  Personally, I’d have preferred if the courtesy had been overlooked and if I’d just gotten lost in the shuffle. 

I hear from readers who get so upset because they don’t hear back from companies they’ve applied to.  I think it is better to think of job search rejection more in terms of the dating game.  If a guy likes you, he’ll call.  If he wants you, he’ll find you.  Same with a company.  If they want you, they won’t lose your contact info.  They’ll bring you in.  If you don’t hear back from them after interview, they have someone they like just a little bit better.  Same as the date guy –if you go out on a date and don’t hear from him within a few days, he’s juggling around a few gals and sorting out who he wants to go out with again. 

So, buckshot theory on dating?  Date a lot and see what sticks.  Target practice?  Identify a few guys, indicate your interest, but don’t stalk them.  If he likes you he’ll find you.

Buckshot theory on job search?  Apply a lot and see what sticks.  Target practice?  Identify a few companies, indicate your interest and try to get a foot in the door, but don’t stalk them.  If anyone is interested in you, they’ll contact you.

As for wallpaper?  First of all, like the letters of rejection, wallpaper isn’t really in style, unless you are working with a designer.  So head over to Dunn Edwards, get a lovely, warm, light tone (like Undercover), and give a fresh coat of paint to the area around your desk yourself.

I know many of you are looking for work because you lost your jobs, but this article is not about that.  He would love to find people who have found creative solutions, such as arranging with their employer to work part time rather than completely retiring.

If you fit the bill, or know someone who would be open to being interviewed, please email me asap at wspiegel@genplususa.com   and I’ll connect you with the writer.  Article deadline is Sunday.

1)  12-24 month contract in Temecula, CA for a Sharepoint Developer.  Rate: $55-65/hr (W2 only).  Start date is
ASAP.  

Developer will:
Design Taxonomy and departmental websites and Sharepoint integration with
MS applications

Requirements:
2+ years with MS Office Sharepoint Server 2007 Platform
MS Server 2008
MS Office 2007
Windows Sharepoint Services and IIS
Sharepoint Documentation Center

MUST HAVE configuration exp with:
MOSS Set up & Config
Web parts
Master pages
AD integration
Excel integration
Templates
Site definitions
Taxonomy
Workflows
Forms

2)  International Brand Manager

Headquarterd in Los Angeles, this growing company is seeking someone who has international brand/marketing experience with either a Beauty, CPG, or Lifestyle type brand.  Looking for a highly creative brand marketer.

When really faced with a sink-or-swim situation, the beauty of the human spirit, is that we tend to swim and it doesn’t matter if we can do a gorgeous freestyle, or a travelling dead man’s float.  Whatever it takes not to drown.  A couple of years ago I put together a really great, very inexpensive, little e-book which is available for download through the Gen Plus shop.  It is all about really reaching inside yourself and figuring out a strategic plan for moving forward, using tools that businesses use to create their own strategic plans.  When I put it together, it was specifically for the Boomer and 50 Plusser seeing the writing on the wall.  The wall has been written on and the damage to the economy has really crossed all age barriers. 

I’ve done contests in the past to award this e-book to someone who could use it.  So I’m doing it again.  Tell me what you might do if you thought you could risk it and if you could figure out a way to take the first steps toward getting there.  I’ll pick a few of you and send you the e-book at no charge.    Just my way of paying it forward.  Put your entries into the comments, or if you want to keep it between us, send me an email at wspiegel@genplususa.com

I’ve seen and heard of many creative ways to undertake job search, but the other day I saw something I’d never seen before.  Someone had created a small brochure out of their resume and was sticking it under the windshield wipers of an office building parking lot.  I’ve certainly seen car papering — for car detailing, local pizza joints, contractors (while I was in Home Depot), and other “car relevant” locations.  But I’d never seen someone using the locale of an office building combined with a personal resume brochure.  So highly creative.  Will it get that person a job?  I don’t know.  But the headline was “Detail-oriented”, and I thought that a hiring manager might take a second look at someone who went to the trouble to get their word out.

I’d love to hear of other innovative ways for getting your resume noticed in this new economy.

Micro Careers

The common view has been that we have one career. Typically, it was defined by both our occupational field-we are an attorney, a salesperson or a logistics professional-and our employer-we work at IBM or at Coca- Cola. Although we were often told otherwise, many of us believed that we would spend our entire career working for that one or, at most, two or three different organizations. In other words, we were convinced our careers would be relatively stable and long lasting.

While that was probably not true in the past, it is definitely not true today. This Great Recession has changed the nature of our careers forever. I know you don’t want to hear that. It’s hard enough to find a job in the current economic environment without some putz telling you that the rules of the game have now changed. But they have. And sticking our heads in the sand won’t undo what has been done.

On the other hand, if we can learn the new rules quickly-if we can get our arms around them and figure out how to play by and win with them-we can turn today’s difficult situation into a much better one. We can capture the upside in a down economy. We can put these new rules to work for us so we can find the work we want and hang onto it.

So, what are these new rules? They are a response to the traumatic and wrenching devastation of business now underway in this country and around the world. From GM to Citigroup, from Hertz to Microsoft, employers are shedding jobs and the workers who held them. These are not, however, your father’s or mother’s layoffs. They are not reductions in force that will eventually be replaced by rehiring in force. They are, instead, reductions in structure. The American employer is becoming leaner and determined to stay that way.

This shift in organizational philosophy holds several implications for those of us in the workforce.

First, there will be far fewer permanent jobs available to us. Companies will shrink down to a relatively small number of core roles and hire very selectively to fill them. Gone are the days of offering a position to a qualified applicant. Today and for many tomorrows to come, only the best qualified candidate for each opening will get the nod.

Second, employers will increase their hiring for “defined outcome positions.” Unlike traditional contract or project work, these situations will have the look and feel of permanent jobs, but have a fixed duration determined by the accomplishment of a specific objective established by the employer. Defined outcome positions will have the same organizational prestige and seniority as core jobs, but without the commitment to long term employment.

Third, employers will attempt to be much more nimble and quick acting. The competitive dynamics of a highly integrated, global marketplace have shortened the life cycle of products and services, sales and marketing strategies, and the organizational staffing requirements that flow from them. The kinds of talent required to execute an organization’s business plan last year or the year before may be-indeed, often will be-entirely different than those it needs today or tomorrow.If those are the new rules, how do we play them?

The answer is as simple as it is challenging. We will have to shift our own employment philosophy. We must change the way we think about our careers. We have to accept that they are no longer relatively stable or long lasting. From now on, our careers will be episodic and short. They will be “micro careers.”

Micro careers are defined by two kinds of impermanence:

Instead of working for one or two employers over the course of a thirty year career, we will now be employed by 10-15 organizations over the course of a fifty year career. We are living longer even as the staffing needs of employers grow shorter and less enduring.

Instead of working in a single occupational field, you will work in 3-5 different professions. They may all draw on a common foundation of expertise, but each will require a specific and additional set of knowledge, skills and abilities.This continuous changing means that we can no longer aspire to be complete and fully formed workers. The old industrial era paradigm of moving from novice to journeyman to master is over. In today’s knowledge-based economy, only masters survive. So, our new strategy must be to act as “masters-in-progress.” We must never stop moving toward a better, more capable, more effective version of our best selves.

Now, I acknowledge that such incessant self renewal is a new and potentially uncomfortable way of working for some, maybe even many of us. We worked hard to get to a certain point in our careers, and now, we would like to coast. We would like to sit back and enjoy the fruits of our labor. And that’s no longer possible. In the 21st Century workplace, managing a successful career is like riding a bicycle. We can coast for a short period of time, but we’re going to have to peddle and sometimes peddle very hard if we want to keep from crashing.

While that may be difficult to accept, there are some advantages to this situation. It enables us to escape from the imprisonment of dull jobs and dead end employers. No employment situation is forever and as long as we keep preparing ourselves for what’s ahead, each new job is a chance to move on and up. We get to start fresh on a regular basis, so mistakes are less harmful to our progress and risk is less dangerous. We have, in short, more freedom and opportunity than we have ever had. That’s the key point we should remember. Because that’s the power and the promise of micro careers.

What does that mean for California?  Well, for one, some people are just going to leave — move back to families in Minnesota, and White Plains, and Tuscon, where they’ll be able to recoup slowly while moving back in with parents, siblings, aunts, old friends.

When there is a severely stressful event or period of time, there are two types of stress that affect us.  There is unproductive stress — that is the type of stress that causes night sweats, anxiety attacks, heart palpitations and feelings of being completely overwhelmed.  We all know those.  In this crisis, this type of stress over a period of time (like we are experiencing now) can be destructive.  It erodes self confidence and zaps creativity.  People can be overwhelmed by a sense of hopelessness.

The other kind of stress is productive stress which causes a discomfort.  This productive discomfort has the opposite impact on us.  It provokes creativity and it can produce profound innovation.  

The difference between the two is a very, very thin line.  If you are an optimist by nature, then you might stay more on the productive side.  If a pessimist, it may not take much to push you to an anxiety attack. 

In this economy, which will continue to fallout for many, many months and years to come (likely to the end of 2010), the challenge is to push pride away.  If you are not embarrassed by your plight, then it becomes easier to seek innovative solutions.  It is a hard fall to be in your 50′s and be unable to find a job.  It is tough.  No doubt.  May take one or two years to find employment.  Possibly.  Probably.  However, if the jobseeker can push pride aside, it opens the door to conversations with everyone.  And if you can have a conversation with everyone you meet about your job search, then it is possible that someone will know someone who has a job opening for you to apply to. 

I spoke with someone the other day who didn’t believe in resources like Twitter or Linked In or Facebook.  The reality is that these communication vehicles exist and denying their power just limits your own abilities to connect with others worldwide.  In the Great Depression, people no longer greeted each other with “Hello, how are you?”  Instead they asked, “Are you working?”  Over the past few months, every conversation with friends now usually starts with “How’s your business doing?” or “Is your job secure?” and more often than not the answer isn’t very good. 

I suspect that within the next few months friends will start sharing innovative ideas that have arisen out of their productive discomfort and then we’ll see new businesses starting, that, as they grow, will start hiring the 11.2 or 12.6% unemployed.  The strength of the United States has always been with small business innovation.  It is just that the big guys got greedy.  But as that equalizes, I imagine great innovation surfacing.

Yes, it can be a very discouraging time for jobseekers, especially those in “youth”-centric fields, such as marketing, sales, creative …even retail.  If you spent your career climbing to the top of a sales ladder, or becoming a marketing maven and find yourself out of a job right now, well, you are in a big bind. 

There are just too many jobseekers vying for the limited number of available jobs.  However, no matter how tough, it is really important to stay encouraged, motivated and optimistic.  There are only a few ways to get a job.  The first is through a connection.  Most open jobs never even make it to a job posting.  So if there is a company you are interested in, do your best to find someone who knows someone at that company and try to make a connection in the department you are interested in.  If you keep in touch, then when a job opening comes up, you might be top of mind.

Early bird catches the worm.  Almost always.  With so many candidates vying for each opportunity, you need to get your resume in as close to first as possible.  While a recruiter is fresh, you might stand out in the pile, rather than when they are looking through the 200th resume.

Stand out.  If you are a Boomer or 50 Plusser, forget trying to showcase all your talents.  First reaction will be that you are…yup…overqualified.  Trim your resume to minimum best.  That means quantifiable accomplishments over the past 10 years.  Unless something directly relates to the job you are applying for from before that time frame, then really streamline or even ignore it on your “marketing” resume.

Be aware of the behavioral approach to interview.  You are likely used to the “tell me about yourself” type of interview.  Recruiters may now be including behavioral questions as a pre-qualifier to an interview — either in an emailable or online application, or on the first phone interview.  They are looking for content, not fluff.  And they’ll want honest, thoughtful answers.  If you are asked 3 questions, answer all three.  If they want a general answer, give a general answer.  If you are asked something specific (like, what are your 3 favorite things to do on a free day?), then be specific.  Don’t say too little, and don’t say too much.  But make sure that what you say is the best you can answer.

You are no longer competing against top dogs.  You are competing against every Boomer, every 50 Plusser, every college grad, every job seeker in their mid-twenties and thirties.  It is expected that you will have computer skills, know how to pull together a PowerPoint presentation, create an Excel spreadsheet, find info on the web.  So if you aren’t computer savvy, you must get savvy, no matter what level position you are looking for. 

That way when you are one of the 10,000 jobseekers showing up at a job fair, you have a chance of catching someone’s attention.