Hidden Job Market: Do People know if you're a Red Rainmaker or a Satin Sales Manager?
If you can tell a company what it is about you that makes you the best hire for the job, you'll be way ahead of any competition. Here's how to do that.
The first step is to sign up in the column on the right for our Free Special Report: How to Create Your Own memorable Brand!
It’s a powerful way to turbo charge your job search. You’ll be able to use it in networking, interviews, resume creation, your LinkedIn profile and much more.
Develop your brand and use it consistently!
You must create a brand that makes you memorable and desirable to hiring managers. If you don't, two things happen:
1. You fade into the crowd of all those other candidates for the position, and
2. You leave it up to others to create a brand for you.
From my experience, I can almost guarantee the brand created this way will be incomplete, inaccurate or even non-existent–making you anything other than memorable and desirable.
I think most job seekers know they should have a brand. But the leap from knowing that to actually creating a brand is a big one. So, understandably but regretfully, almost none of the candidates I talk to have a brand. Now the hiring manager's choice comes down to things the candidate cannot control. And it's still not just about skills.
So if it's so important, how come so few job seekers actually have their brand identified? I surely didn't in my early job searches. People told me it was important but never told me how to actually do it!! So here is exactly what you can do.
I have an easy technique—actually it’s even fun and fast. You actually start some networking activities while you are uncovering your brand. The good news is that when you ask people you know the questions I give you, your brand is being disclosed in those conversations.
Job seekers usually tell me it’s difficult to be able to come up with this on their own, which is what most techniques require you to do. It’s much easier and much faster to have people who have worked with you give you their thoughts. I know this can be scary but trust me on this—people will be delighted to share their thoughts. It’s like hearing all the good stuff without the funeral.
One of the extra bonuses you get from doing this exercise is that you can now quote people who had good things to say about you. Use these statements when you network and when you interview. That social proof of other people saying you get great results will make you irresistible to the hiring manager!
Please sign up in the column on the right for our Free Special Report: How to Create Your Own memorable Brand!
You’ll be able to use it in networking, interviews, resume creation, your LinkedIn profile and much more.
Enjoy! And let me know how it goes.
Job Search Networking and Egg Nog…Lethal Combination?
Many people wonder about the protocol for job search networking with people at holiday parties. Is it appropriate? Does it ruin the holiday spirit if you tell people you’re looking for work? Is it the new equivalent to dancing with the lamp shade on your head?
If you think of networking as making connections, the holidays can be a great time to do that. People are usually feeling the holiday spirit, and are open and generous. You don’t have to launch into a discussion of how your search is going, what kind of position you want, or a long list of your qualifications during these events.
Meeting people and focusing on developing the relationship first and foremost is an ideal job search activity during the holidays. Make holiday networking about meeting some new people and building a relationship. You will find it’s easy to follow up with them after the holidays if you’ve taken the time to get to know them.
So don’t do anything embarrassing; it’s the equivalent of posting those old embarrassing pictures on your facebook page. And if they did something embarrassing, it’s kind of you to forget.
Happy holidays. May Santa bring you everything on your list!
Hats off to Denver
Networking can be happening in every encounter. One that is almost always overlooked is networking with the recuiter who is working with you on a position.
I’m working on a search for an HR Mgr for Denver, and have had a unique and wonderful experience with HR candidates in Denver. Every one of them has done something that candidates rarely do–followed up in a great email to me (the recruiter) after our initial conversation.
I’ve never had a search where every single candidate I screened did that kind of follow up. It makes a bigger difference than most candidates realize. It won’t make an unqualified candidate qualified, obviously. But it makes a big impact on the recruiter and guess who is the next to see that big impact. The hiring manager when I express the fabulous follow up from the candidates. It’s a great way to connect with your recruiter (because you never know) and impress the hiring manager before you even interview.
