Whatever It Takes

A few weeks ago, I got to sit in on a how-to seminar for job seekers put on by Todd Palmer. He owns a Troy-based staffing company, Diversified Industrial Staffing, and saw a niche for coaching people who are struggling to find work.

His Job Search Process program includes a half-day seminar, on-line training book and personal follow-up by phone and email for six weeks with a money-back ($49.99) guarantee if you don’t have a job by then.  

A lot of what he preaches makes sense, and is what you will probably eventually figure out if you are intent on finding a job. For me, it was a process that developed over time – you start out applying for jobs like you used to, only to find you are not getting a lot of responses. As a result, you realize if you really want a job, you are going to have to step up the pace, and get more creative.

And that’s what he recommends. He says to make looking for a job your full-time job. In fact, he tells his seminar participants that they should be applying for 100 jobs a week – that by the law of averages alone, they should be able to end up with a job after six weeks.

This would assume that you live in a large metro area or are willing to relocate. Where I live, I’m not sure that there are even 100 jobs to apply for in the course of one week. I’ve probably applied for about 80 jobs over a few months, being willing to relocate if needed. That brings me to one point Palmer made that made a lot of sense – create a spread sheet listing each job you apply for, and the details relating to it:  the date you applied, the name of the contact person, phone number, job title, short description of the duties, and dates and notes on follow-up. When you are applying for a lot of jobs, it can be easy to lose track, and you don’t want to sabotage yourself by not being able to remember anything about the job should an employer call to talk with you. (“What job was this again?” Not good.) I also print out and keep a copy of all job postings for which I have applied.

Another good point Palmer made was to use your head before answering the phone while you are actively job searching. You want to come across collected and professional, so, keeping in mind that an employer could call at any time, don’t answer the phone at times when you won’t. He related the story of calling a woman who had applied for a job, only to have her tell him she was in the middle of a “hot tub crisis” and could he call her back another time? First, she shouldn’t have answered the phone in the middle of her crisis if she didn’t know who was calling, he said. Second, her telling him to call her back, instead of offering to return his call at her earliest convenience, put the end of it. He didn’t pursue her as a candidate.

Here are some other tips from Palmer:

-Keep in mind what he says is the “85 percent rule” — that only 15 percent of available jobs ever get advertised or posted publicly. So after you’ve responded to ads from careerbuilder and monster and newspapers, you look to other sources. And that means networking. Get yourself on Web sites like facebook, myspace and linkedin. Make sure everyone you know is aware that you are job hunting. 

-Create a business card on your home computer with your name, phone number, email address and a short statement about the type of job you are seeking or skills you possess and hand it out to everybody you meet.

-Identify the types of companies you want to work for, find them in the Yellow Pages and send queries and your resume. Keep in mind, though, that big is not always better. A couple of the General Motors employees who were sitting in Palmer’s job search course when I was observing could attest to that. The majority of new jobs created last year were in companies with less than 50 employees, Palmer said.

“If you walk in, and you’re a rock star, you can create your own security,” he tells his classes.

-Develop a couple different versions of your resume, tailored to specific types of jobs or organizations. In some cases, you might want to customize a resume for a particularly appealing opening.

-In all cases, use spellcheck. Believe it or not, some people don’t, Palmer said. As an editor, I can tell you not to rely on spellcheck alone. Good old-fashioned proofing is essential, too, to avoid the hanging instead of changing, untied instead of united, lost instead of last, etc.

-If you get an interview, make the most of it. Do your homework on the company and interviewer. Anticipate questions and rehearse answers. And be nice to the receptionist. Palmer said he’s ruled out more than one candidate for being rude to his. Follow up with a thank-you letter, phone call or both.

-Most importantly, don’t give up.

For more on Palmer’s seminar, visit www.jobsearchprocess.com.