HARD EFFING WORK!

Seriously. Hard work. Best advice I got when I was laid off in January was something I knew intuitively, but until someone I respected told me, it didn't fully resonate: "Finding a job is your new full-time job. You'll get out of it what you put into it."

I basically re-posted some of what I posted in another thread, and expanded on it.

What do I want to do?

If you're lucky enough to have your next job precisely defined, then you've got well over half the battle won. For me, I knew from my short stint that an IT support role was not my cup of tea. I knew I wanted a technology job, but I wanted IT to be the good/service of my company, not just a cost center.

If you still don't know what you want to do forever, then try and focus on what you'd like to try for a while. You don't have to be committed forever.

What you CANNOT do when someone asks the question, is say, "I can do anything," or "I'll try anything." That is way too broad and sounds too much like, "I have to train this guy/gal before we can even do anything else." Also, if I'm trying to help you out, I want you to have a job you LIKE and need to know where to start looking.

If you say, "I wanna continue my career as a technical sales rep in the semiconductor industry," BAM! I actually know someone in that very industry. THAT is how it works.

You've GOT to narrow it down. Pick something.

What networking REALLY is.

As an extremely social person, I already had been networking through the A&M club and veterans groups. It's natural for me. For others of us, you MUST get out there and meet people.

Inevitably, I would see that the vast majority of people at networking meetings were only there looking for jobs. There were a few of us regulars, sure, but most were job seekers.

"Hi, I'm tracer311, class of 2000. I'm an Ag in transition. I'm looking for a job as a business intelligence consultant. Please help me. Again, my name's tracer311. Thanks."

NO! I have seen this between all the A&M clubs and the Marine Corps job networking events. PLEASE, stop asking for help and tell the group how you can help others! Here was my 30-sec speech before I was laid off:

"Howdy, I'm tracer311, class of 2000. I'm in IT. I'm not in a hiring capacity and am blessed to have a good job [jinxed myself there], but I know a lot of people in DFW and might be able to help you out."

And try to actually stay involved, even after you've landed the job. Too many people come to the meetings when they need it, but once they got the job, they're never seen again.

Ask not what they can do for you, but what you can do for them. God/karma will repay you. Trust me.

Attitude

I learned very shortly after my layoff to stop telling people that I was laid off. I could tell that they immediately thought I was asking for a job or that they could sense desperation. I soon changed my tune, and realized it is like finding a date: when you don't need one they're everywhere, but when you DO, you can't find one.

When someone asks, "What do you do?" DO NOT say "I'm looking...I'm in transition...I'm unemployed." Tell them what your targeted job title is. Just because you don't have a gig tonight does not mean that you are not still a musician!

Instead, conversations now went like this:
"What do you do?"
"I'm an IT Consultant." If they're not immediately bored after I mention 'IT...'
"Oh, what line of work?"
"I'm in Business Intelligence."
"Who do you work for?"
"Right now I'm a contractor, [which is true, but I don't tell them that my current project is remodeling a friend's bathroom!] but I might consider taking a full-time position somewhere if the opportunity was just right."
"Well, what are we talking about here?"
"I want to work for a small, privately-held BI consulting firm, that is VERY profitable, located in Dallas, less than 100% travel, with brilliant and dynamic people."

From there, they either tell me about a firm they used to work for and give me a contact, or they just go on their merry way. Either way, at NO time did I tell them I was "in transition." Incidentally, I hate that phrase, personally. It's like admin assistant. We all know you mean secretary. Don't try and church it up. Own it! I digress...

Resume

So, you've got your ideal job picked out, you've stopped telling every person you meet that you're unemployed and you're helping others meet the people they need to meet. Now to polish the resume.

-Job title, must have it.
-11 or 12-pt font only. TNR or Arial only.
-NOTHING in headers or footers (gone when scanned)
-ONE INCH margins all around
-Shrink your name back down to 11 or 12, too.
-summary paragraph with 3 lines, max. "BI consultant seeking client-facing position in Dallas, TX. Experienced in requirements-gathering, SQL, Informatica ETL, Business Objects universe creation."

Have you increased productivity and efficiency in every position? Quantify that and highlight it.

Bullet-point all your accomplishments in all positions like this:
-<action verb><problem><tools><$$ outcome>
-"Implemented collections data mart using Informatica and Business Objects that reduced overall DSO by 5% YOY."

No bullet point should start with "responsible for..." EVER! That sounds like, "I was supposed to do <this>." You want it to say what you DID. Also keep "managed" to an absolute minimum.

Take out ANY fluff: "Team player, 10-year seasoned professional, detail-oriented, driven, personable" because NO ONE ever asked an HR manager, "Hey Bob, find me a detail-oriented, team-playing, seasoned professional." Plus, no one would hire anyone who is NOT those things, so just leave 'em out. Just the facts, ma'am. Trust me. I've heard HR pros talk about this ad nauseum.

Now, find the targeted job, and search for it on Indeed.com (search aggregator, includes Monster, CareerBuilder, HotJobs, Dice, JobFox and a bunch of others). Take the job descriptions and tailor the aforementioned bullet points to highlight the pertinent ones - using same phrasing and keywords - and minimize the others. This is extremely difficult, because we are all proud of our work, but recruiters don't care if it's not pertinent. I had a very hard time minimizing my Marine Corps experience on my resume. It's still there, but no longer takes up half a page.

Marketing

Easy, just takes a little while:
-post on Monster
-post on CareerBuilder
-create/update your LinkedIn profile (Seriously. Use LI. Recruiters do now. You should too. This isn't about YOU, it's about THEM.)
-Google yourself (minds out of gutter!), the employers certainly will be. Clean up your online presence if you have one.
-refresh your resume on Monster and CB every Sunday night or Monday morning.

Cover letter

Dear <name>, [If you don't know the name, omit "Dear Sir or Madam" and insert "Re: <job title>, job ID: <job id>]

I saw this job posted on <site>. I am looking for a position in <location> as a <position>. Here are some of my qualifications:

Your requirements ___My qualifications
1. 2 yrs. retail____ 1. 2 yrs. exp. at HEB
2. Bachelors ________2. BBA in MIS, TAMU
3. Exp. managing ____3. Managed 30+ employees
4. <req.> ___________4. <matching exp.>

Please find my resume attached. I am interested in learning more about your company. I will contact you again on <next week> to make sure you have received my information and to answer any questions you may have for me.


Regards,

tracer311
972-311-0311
tracer311 (at) yahoo dotcom"


Should go without saying, but actually follow up on that date.

Interviews and follow-ups

I'm not going to touch here very much, except to say that the hard-to-get doesn't stop with the interview.

"Hi tracer, this is Bob with ABC Consulting."
"Good morning. Who did you say you were with?"
"ABC Consulting. We're a firm in Dallas. I saw your resume on Monster and we'd like to talk to you. When's a good time?"

STOP RIGHT HERE. Your desperate inclination is to say. "Whenever! I'm totally available any time." WRONG! You are always busy, all the time. Fight that desperate urge, and do this:

"Let me look at my calendar for a minute...lessee, I've got this, and that...OK, I can move some things around (programming your DVR and relacing your shoes) and carve out almost an hour on Thursday afternoon, does that work?" ALWAYS 'look at your calendar.'
"Well, how's 1 pm Central sound?" (Always re-verify the time zone, trust me!)
"That's great. I have you on my calendar for Thursday at 1 pm Central. Just call this number."

It was easier for me to act like I was busy, because I was! Of course, the tile doesn't have to be grouted at a very precise time, but hey, we're busy people, too!

I am full of these tips and could talk for hours on them. Email me at my username @ yahoo if you want clarification.

I hope these help some of you.

[edit: Some friends have pointed out that some of this advice is specific to the business world. This is true, but the bottom line is to KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE.]

"The American people will never knowingly adopt Socialism. But under the name of 'liberalism' they will adopt every fragment of the Socialist program, until one day America will be a Socialist nation, without knowing how it happened." - Norman Thomas, six-time U. S. Presidential candidate, Socialist Party of America

[This message has been edited by tracer311 (edited 4/18/2010 9:12p).]

Good LORD! Actually reading all of that is hard work!

I know who you are....

$10 says you can figure out who I am.

And he's not full of S. He's a damn good networker.

OMG i know what you did last summer...

i bet you cant figure out what i did.

That's not what I said. I figured out who he is based info he provided that you could figure out if you knew him.

[This message has been edited by Rudyjax (edited 4/9/2010 1:49p).]

Good tips!

I like the outline and I think for the most part it's really true.

There are a few things though that I'm not so sure about and likely wouldn't work for me in my profession.

Nicely done tracer. Sorry to hear about the layoff.

You should get with the career center and Mays career folks and start doing training for grads who can't find work.

I know you want to stay in Dallas but Houston has a lot of IT opportunities, especially in O&G. Though it is still tough for experienced hirs to get in the door. Most everyone is doing recruiting from campus. Unfortunately I have little pull at CVX and XOM for these sort of things but I'd be willing to spread your resume around if I hear of anything good.

Speaking of networking. Are you going to be in Aggieland next weekend for M&W game?

[This message has been edited by GCRanger (edited 4/9/2010 2:52p).]

GC, you bring up a good point. I should have mentioned that the outcome of my efforts was THREE job offers. I felt like the prettiest girl at the dance! I negotiated and accepted a position at MSTR.

And yes, I plan to be in BCS next weekend. Wanted to be there for Chilifest, but two weekends in a row is probably too much for my liver.

RUDYJAX! HA! All this time on TexAgs and I finally met you IRL in February. Comedy. Thanks for your help. Your lead liked me (guess I snowed 'em), but they didn't have anything at the time.

How do you know BoerneGator? He and I were in the same unit - 2nd Bn 4th Marines - although he was there in the early '70s and I was there in the mid '00s. I used to help him out around CS when I was at A&M for Round Two, handyman work for his rental homes periodically.

I'd like to start my career as a technical sales rep in the semiconductor industry. Can anyone help?

Oh, btw, is this from your resume or did you accidentally copy/paste from your casual encounters ad on craig's list?

quote:

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BI consultant seeking client-facing position in Dallas, TX.

---

AggieArchitect, there are obviously some parts where opinion come into play, as all the Sr. HR folks I talked to admitted. As they say themselves, they're just people, too. We MUST remember that, and try and understand where THEY come from when they see our stuff. Like Sun Tzu said, "Know yourself and know your enemy, and in 100 battles you will be victorious."

Can you expand or offer other suggestions how an architect might do things differently? I happen to have an architect buddy from my outfit in the Corps who has found himself laid off, too. Plus, we can all benefit from others' ideas.

Oh Sox, you so funny!

(Just emailed your work account.)

I met him in tailgates after meeting him on texags.

Great read Tracer... and congratulations.

A networking question:

My company doesn't give me a business card. Can I just make my own, and put general stuff on there like:

Name
SAN Storage Engineer
Houston, TX
Linkedin address
Phone
Email?

Would that look extremely unprofessional?

tracer311 - that post was fantastic. I think this should be required reading for job seekers. Especially those on this board. The only things I could possibly add are:

1. You've got to make sure your Resume has the buzzwords in there that an HR screener will be looking for. In my case, I wouldn't just list Sun Server, Brocade Switches etc. at the bottom of the resume (I do have a friend who simply has a buzzword section on his resume). I would write a sentence that states something like "Performed SAN Zoning of Sun T5220 Servers with 4 Gb Emulex HBAs to connect to an EMC DL5200 Disk Library in a Brocade SAN Fabric". Or, something like that. It gets the buzzwords in there (that the searches will find) and it shows that I actually did something tangible (for the human readers). If you're in IT, you'll likely want to work in relevant software versions. Big difference between Exchange 5.5 and Exchange 2010 for example.
2. Set yourself a target of job applications/resumes sent out per day, per week, whatever. It gives you a goal to work toward. Don't overdo it. If your goal is 25 job applications per week. Don't do them all on Monday and take the rest of the week off. You might do 3 on one day and 8 on another day but you've got to pace yourself. Otherwise you'll get burned out with all the rejection. On the other hand, if you've only done 2 job applications, you know in your heart that you're not doing all that you could do to find yourself a job.
3. Don't get too desperate. The longer you're out of work, the more likely you are to take a job that only pays 75% or 50% of what you were earning previously. If things drag on too long you might have to settle for something less than what you wanted. Just don't let it happen in the first 2-4 weeks. When I was out of work, I got lots of call backs usually from people looking to take advantage of my situation.
4. Consider expanding your search area. I've got a buddy that was out of work for over a year because he refused to look anywhere other than Austin. At the time, he could have gotten a job in Dallas easily.
5. Stay positive - you're the only one on your side (besides your mother who will always support you). If you don't believe in yourself, nobody else is going to either.

lancevance - I've seen people make their own business cards before. It looks kind of ridiculous but ... it gets the information in the right hands and frankly it is more memorable than a generic business card from a real company.

Thanks coastal, and thanks Hollywood. Great points, all.

great post, Leatherneck

Thanks, Devil! You back in NYC now?

quote:

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1. You've got to make sure your Resume has the buzzwords in there that an HR screener will be looking for. In my case, I wouldn't just list Sun Server, Brocade Switches etc. at the bottom of the resume (I do have a friend who simply has a buzzword section on his resume). I would write a sentence that states something like "Performed SAN Zoning of Sun T5220 Servers with 4 Gb Emulex HBAs to connect to an EMC DL5200 Disk Library in a Brocade SAN Fabric". Or, something like that. It gets the buzzwords in there (that the searches will find) and it shows that I actually did something tangible (for the human readers). If you're in IT, you'll likely want to work in relevant software versions. Big difference between Exchange 5.5 and Exchange 2010 for example.

---

I don't think this can be emphasized enough...You absolutely want to make sure that your resume is specific to the job position. Yes it means redoing for just about every position you apply for, but it is an absolutely necessary step that you must do.

yes sir

Just a quick post edit above.

quote:

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Can you expand or offer other suggestions how an architect might do things differently? I happen to have an architect buddy from my outfit in the Corps who has found himself laid off, too. Plus, we can all benefit from others' ideas.

---

I didn't mean to poo poo all over your post tracer. I liked almost all your points. I'm currently "contracting" so it was a good read for me.

If I may humbly add to them...my thoughts specific to my industry:

1) H WHO? - Many architectural firms that I'm aware of don't have a HR department unless it is a huge AE firm. They might have one person whose responsibilities include SOME tasks considered to be HR. In my field, the hiring/recruiting is being done by either the top guy (small firm) or a senior level associate/partner (mid-sized firm).

2) RESUME - Architects/designers respond to things graphically so content is important but perhaps just as important is how you present that content. So things like font-size and font-type are better if they are interesting (but not ridiculous). My sister is an attorney and the format of her resume (while suitable for her) likely would be a bit overwhelming for an architect. One thing that is challenging is finding a way to quantify your work. Aside from "300 million dollars in construction to date" I personally have a difficult time quantifying my work.

3) COVER LETTER - Again, graphically your cover letter should look/feel the same as your resume. The two are meant to complement one another, both in content and appearance.

4) PORTFOLIO - you have to be able to show what you've done. Everything up to this has just been "TALKitecture". It's one thing to say, "I drafted quality construction documents" and it's another to show it to them. Sketches, renderings, details, models, etc. are all things to consider including. Publishing and binding a nice portfolio can be expensive so leaving it at someone's office has always made me feel a little uncomfortable. I want to leave them something that best illustrates my work but it has to be something I can part with. So, I use postcards. I give them a set of postcards that have examples of my work on them. On the back is my logo and a brief summary of the image. I have gotten some great positive comments on using this approach. If they toss them in the garbage, fine, I'm out just a little money. But it might be something they pin up at their desk or it can easily be passed to another colleague. It's basically a business card in disguise and a crafty little marketing tool.

5) THE WHOLE PACKAGE - I spent a lot of time last year refining all of the above. When I go into an office (I almost always try to go in person) I am dropping off a package of me. I use a (reusable) plastic envelope, nice-looking folder and make sure everything matches. People like opening things. I try to create just enough intrigue so that they open it up and my other documents (resume, postcards, etc.) illustrate to them why I'm a good candidate. There's also a subtle message: Look at how he presents himself and his work. He could do this for my firm.

5 CURRENT EVENTS - in the interview I try to have something prepared that I'm currently working on. "I am looking for a permanent position, but right now I'm enjoying designing/building a smokehouse for my grandpa. What do you think?" To me this indicates that you're not waiting around for someone to "give you a job" you're taking the initiative and trying to create your own little projects. Even if you're not getting paid for them, you're doing something.

Those are my comments. And I certainly don't have it all figured out. I would definitely like any feedback or ideas people may have on those points.

Thanks to all and thanks for the initial post tracer.

quote:

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I didn't mean to poo poo all over your post tracer.

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Not at all! Coincidentally, my architect friend said about the same things that you said. Nearly everything I posted was in regards to a business environment.

Thanks again for your input!

too much to read! my head hurts now

tracer, can you email me? blazerdogs3@gmail.com

good post by the OP

As much as I want to believe that karma and hard work pays off, I have a hard time believing so. I've worked hard, I've been searching many places for a new job, but no one pays attention to me, and in the end, I get f***ed no matter how good I am.

To 1,000,000 touchdowns...and beyond

What sort of job are you looking for, specifically?