Archive for September, 2010
The Recession Is Over!
The National Bureau of Economic Research has determined that the recession is over. At least, according to a story today in the LA Times.
Man, feels great, doesn’t it? Supposedly, the turning point came in June of 2009. That’s about when I started to feel better. How about you?
I guess we can start ignoring all the news about 10% unemployment and record levels of people living below the poverty line. The folks publishing those stories must just not be up-to-date, right?
I mean, I only personally know about 100 people who have been out of work over six months. I’m talking about personal relationships – people I address by first name and that are in my email directory and my blackberry phone list. These are people for whom I have their cell phone and home land-line number. Folks with college degrees and years of valuable professional experience. I can’t wait to call them and let them know!
If you know someone that’s been complaining lately about the job market, please call them and let them know it’s over. The recession has been officially ruled dead, done, extinct, over!
So, if you’re still messing with cover letters, resumes, job interviews, networking, and pink slip parties, that’s old news.
Time to move on. Don’t be a downer.
Do You Look Like A Desperate Job Seeker?
Okay, think about this for a moment… pretend that you are a recruiter, or maybe even a hiring manager…
You do a search on LinkedIn or one of the other social networks for potential candidates to contact regarding a key opening for which you are recruiting. You find three individuals: one individual describes himself as an experienced professional in the targeted area, one indicates that she has a similar title but is working for another company in the same market, and the third one’s title says “Looking for a new opportunity…” Which of these candidates is most likely going to be the first one you attempt to contact, and which one is going to be the last?
Life’s not fair. I’m sorry, it’s not. If you are the unemployed expert, you may be the most qualified candidate out there, but if you lead with that, you are putting yourself at the end of the line. It’s like choosing which milk to put on your cereal in the breakfast buffet line: the decanter in the ice bucket or the one sitting on the counter. The one on the counter may be just as cold (or colder) and was just put there, but I choose the one in the ice bucket. It’s human nature… we make unconscious or semi-conscious choices that are not based on a full assessment of the facts. We naturally narrow our choices, especially when in a hurry, based on a very rapid (and not always valid) read of what we see in front of us.
The same criteria that guide how you write an effective cover letter should be used in building your social network presence. You have just a few seconds of the recruiter’s or hiring manager’s attention to either stand out positively, or (at a minimum) avoid being culled for negative reasons.
Be honest; be crisp and factual; speak to the bottom-line; but don’t stand there holding a sign that says, “Don’t choose me!”
The 2-Step Cover Letter That’s a Little Brazen
Write your cover letter as if you’ve already done the job!
Okay, so here’s a tip to writing a great cover letter for a specific job. First, write a summary of yourself as if you’ve already done the job. Think of yourself two years in the future putting this job on your resume… What did you accomplish? What new market approaches did you introduce? What processes did you improve driving bottom-line results?
Move your perspective into the future, and look back and imagine yourself as having been successful in this role. Then write up just a few key statements that you think would be resume-worthy. Now, write the cover letter you are going to send. Talk about the skills you will bring to the position and the accomplishments you hope to help bring about with the first summary you wrote as a frame of mind.
Half of accomplishing something is being able to see it, to be able to articulate it. Speak the language of success. Help the hiring manager envision you as the candidate that is going to help the company get the job done.
Most cover letters are either drab of past-focused. Make yours aspirational and future-focused. You might surprise even yourself at the difference it makes!
