According to the latest Department of Labor statistics (Dec. 2010), over 25 million Americans are currently unemployed or are involuntarily working part-time hoping to find full-time employment. 

In the coming weeks, we will be reviewing 5 strategies for conducting a truly targeted job search. 

Strategy 1: Know Thyself

As the saying that is most often attributed to the Greek philosopher Socrates goes, “Know Thyself” is the first step to a successful job search.  Before you respond to a job ad or even write your resume, you must ask yourself…“Who Am I and What Should I Do with My Life”? 

We were all created with unique talents, abilities, and personality.  As we grow through life, we add-in a set of values, interests and experiences all our own.   None of these alone capture who we are, but viewed at all together…they provide us a very clear picture of ourselves and what vocations best fit our “design”.  

We’ll look at each of these aspects of you in-depth, including resources to assessments and additional information to help you better understand each. 

Strategy 2: Target Your “Best-Fit”

Once we’ve defined your design as it were, we will then explore ways you can take this information and identify those vocations that best-fit to your personality, your interests, your values, talents, and gifts, etc. 

We’ll discover how to use your understanding of who you to help you focus your career decisions to find more than a job, but to find a vocation that you were made for.  You’ve heard the saying, “do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life”.  I would add, do what you’re made to do, and life is good! 

Strategy 3: Prepare and Customize

Once you’ve discovered vocations that fit with your make-up…we’ll look at several resources to help you identify the skills, training, and experience necessary for your targeted vocation and learn how to research the organizations hiring these positions. 

Ever been asked a question in an interview and found yourself unable to quickly come up with that great example or great success story?  Well, I’ll share how to know what all employers want to hear no matter what the job and how to develop your personal success stories that make you shine in any interview.

Based on your targeted job and organization and clearer understanding of your accomplishments, now you’ll be ready to prepare a master resume.  We’ll discuss recruiters’ resume must-haves and deal-breakers and how important it is to customize your master resume and cover letters for every job application.

Strategy 4: Networking

Next, we’ll distinguish between the more passive traditional and active, effective job search strategies and when to use each. 

We’ll discuss how to identify your network and ways you can authentically help your network help you.  For those introverts out there like me, don’t worry, I’ll share some new thoughts that make networking work for introverts too!

The internet has touched just about everything in our lives and it has made a major impact on the way recruiters look for candidates and how job-seekers search for opportunities. 

We’ll look at the what every job seeker should know about how to use the top 3 social media sites (LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter) and how to use blogging to ensure a successful job search.

Strategy 5:  Interviewing

So, the day arrives and you get the call…a phone interview and then a face-to-face interview.  I’ll provide you a checklist for a successful interview. 

We’ll look at the different types of interviews and how to prepare for each, how to deal with tough questions and the all-important salary question. 

We’ll review what questions you should always ask and how to close the interview on a strong note and how to follow-up well. 

By the end, you will be better-prepared to continue your job search or to begin your search for a career that matches your passions and who your truly are.

A recent study of almost 150,000 German adults spanning over 25 years, reinforces what has been long understood - that the quality of our primary relationships in life are the greatest predictors of our long-term life satisfaction and happiness.

The researchers found several correlations between life choices and life satisfaction:

• Marry well: The personality traits of partners influenced people's happiness. People who married or partnered with neurotic people were less likely to be happy than people who married non-neurotic types.
• Focus on the family: People who assigned relatively high value to altruistic and family goals compared with career goals were happier. Women were also happier when their male partners ranked family goals high.
• Go to church: People who went to church more often were happier, though the study can't determine whether the happiness is related to religious views or to the social circle religious organizations offer.
• Work, but not too much (or too little): People who worked more or fewer hours than they preferred were less happy. Working less or being unemployed was worse than working too much, presumably because underemployment is a financial blow, the researchers wrote.
• Get social, and get moving: Social interaction and exercise were both associated with happiness. Working out made people happier regardless of body weight.

As King Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 2:  A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work; another finding of the research reveals once again that money doesn't buy happiness.

"People with a lot of money are more satisfied with their lives... but mainly due to the more interesting and challenging jobs they have," study author Gert Wagner, a researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Germany.

"Money is simply a byproduct of good and satisfying jobs. If you want to be satisfied with your life, you must spend time with your friends and your family."

Ensuring our priorities are balanced, we have healthy, close relationships with our friends and family, we are engaged in challenging work, and exercising regularly will help us be happier.

But what about the fact that family members pass away, marriages sometimes end, and millions have lost access to challenging work lately...can we still find happiness?

In Philippians 4, Paul writes that “I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether filled or going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” 

The person Paul refers to is Christ…ultimate contentment that surpasses any circumstance or trial, can only be found in the relationship with the One who created us. 

Due in large part to America's mortgage crisis and increases in forclosure and bankruptcies, there is almost a 30% increase in online job postings for paralegals, court reporters, loan officers, accountants and finance managers.

With the proliferation of social media being used for marketing and public relations, we are seeing a 25% increase in job postings for graphic and web designers, computer science, and marketing and public relations.

Our interest in a greener, cleaner environment and sustainability, seems to have created a 23% increase in jobs for architects and engineers and the technical trades.

And finally, with our aging population growing, the need for health care including home health care has increased the online job postings for health aides, medical assistants, and RNs by 20%. 

As these none of these market trends seem to be short-term, any of these career choices will likely provide you with more opportunity in the long-term. 

Source: Yahoo Education article by Chris Kyle.

According to today’s Orlando Sentinel and the National Retail Federation, retailers are feeling a bit more optimistic this year.  Macy’s said it expects to hire approximately 65,000 seasonal workers, Toys “R” Us plans to open 600 temporary Express stores (compared to 90 last year), employing 10,000; and other retailers noted were Target, other discount chains, and the many Halloween stores. 

 Some tips given to get that temp job?

• Start now…most retailers will begin to hire in October and early November.
• Ask friends and family members who work at the retailers about timing and open positions.
• Check out the retailers’ Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn pages, many give heads up to posting positions there.

Click here for the full Orlando Sentinal article and here for more tips to snag the job. 

Remember, in addition to the extra cash, seasonal temp jobs can offer additional networking opportunities, experience, and potentially a permanent gig.  Keep and open mind, a positive attitude and you never know where the opportunity may lead. 

Happy Holidays and job search success!

“These pragmatic decisions by companies to walk away from commercial mortgages come as a debate rages in the residential-real-estate world about "strategic defaults," when homeowners stop making loan payments even though they can afford them. Instead, they decide to default because the house is "underwater," meaning its value has fallen to a level less than its debt.”

“Banking-industry officials and others have argued that homeowners have a moral obligation to pay their debts even when it seems to make good business sense to default. Individuals who walk away from their homes also face blemishes to their credit ratings and, in some states, creditors can sue them for the losses they suffer.”

In its guide to walking away from your mortgage, businessinsider.com shares this tidbit when it comes to the morality of this practice:

“Besides the law, you may also want to consider the moral repercussions of backing out on your debts.

Just kidding! Everyone is doing it. Feel free to ignore this question.”

REALLY?! So, as many mothers told their children since bridges were invented...if your friends jumped off a bridge, does that mean you’d do it too?!   Relativism at its best, folks!

As hard as it is to see past the world view of debt management...one thing keeps coming back to mind.

Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience. This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God's servants, who give their full time to governing. Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor. Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law…whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: "Love your neighbor as yourself." Love does no harm to its neighbor.

~Romans 13: 5 - 10

Please don’t get me wrong…there is a big difference between not being ABLE to pay your mortgage and CHOOSING not to.  As someone with a house in that negative equity zone – I too struggle with this. 

But as I drive through my neighborhood and see those vacated homes with unkempt yards, I remind myself which world view I will choose to follow, not the it’s what’s best for me and its okay because everyone’s doing it view, but the eternal view that focuses on loving and not harming my neighbor.

In If God is Good: Faith in the Midst of Suffering and Evil, Randy Alcorn shares many stories of how individuls have faced trials and chosen an  eternal perspective.  In one story, Pastor James Montgomery Boice shares this perspective with his congregation.

In May 2000, he stood before his Philadelphia church and explained that he’d been diagnosed with liver cancer:

"Should you pray for a miracle? Well, you’re free to do that, of course. My general impression is that the God who is able to do miracles—and He certainly can—is also able to keep you from getting the problem in the first place. So although miracles do happen, they’re rare by definition. 

Above all, I would say pray for the glory of God. If you think of God glorifying Himself in history and you say, where in all of history has God most glorified Himself? He did it at the cross of Jesus Christ, and it wasn’t by delivering Jesus from the cross, though He could have.

God is in charge. When things like this come into our lives, they are not accidental. It’s not as if God somehow forgot what was going on, and something bad slipped by.… God is not only the one who is in charge; God is also good. Everything He does is good.… If God does something in your life, would you change it? If you’d change it, you’d make it worse. It wouldn’t be as good."

Eight weeks later, having taught his people first how to live and then how to die, Pastor Boice departed this world to “be with Christ, which is better by far” (Philippians 1:23).

Are you stressed today, hurting, worried about your future?  I highly recommend this book and THE book for comfort and a new perspective on why there is suffering and what God is doing in and through us during our suffering. 

According to the US Labor Department, increases in worker productivity have been smaller each quarter since Q2 2009 and as of Q2 this year productivity is down. 

CNNMoney.com reports that the amount of hours worked rose at a faster pace in the month than actual economic output.

"That means that companies may no longer be able to rely on cutting costs, particularly through layoffs, to juice profits."

"What's happened is a lot of U.S. companies have reached the limit of how much they can slash their workforce and work existing employees to the bone," said Nariman Behravesh, chief economist with IHS Global Insight in Lexington, Mass. "At some point, even weak spending growth will require businesses to hire more people to meet the demand."

The approach of “doing more with less” apparently only works for so long.  The combination of significantly reduced staff, cut operating budgets, longer work hours and additional workloads will obviously result in decreased productivity (and certainly employee morale). 

Multiple economists and labor force experts have already begun to stress the importance of private sector hiring.  It seems that like consumers, business owners are still gun-shy in their spending. 

I imagine a few more quarters of decreased productivity will motivate some reaction.  Let's hope the response is a positive one to add resources to increase productivity, not another fear-based response of cutting back even further. 

So the question remains…lean and mean or anorexic and weak? 

Recently, I conducted a rather unscientific survey on the Answers section of LinkedIn. 

I asked:  As a recruiter or hiring manager, what are your top 3 resume must-haves and top 3 resume deal-breakers?

Turns outs that resumes which include the relevant and required experience top both lists and ensuring good formatting, easy-to-read, and no typos hits the top three also. 

So, not rocket-science and no news flash…if you’ll permit me to extrapolate for this very small sample – it’s fair to say that if you can clearly articulate how your past performance translates into the target job, run your grammar and spell-check programs, and keep the format clean and clear…you’ll have at least removed an avoidable barrier to that initial interview. 

For more advice or help with creating, editing or producing resumes or cover letters, contact me at banthony@truecompassconsulting.org.

Here’s the full list…

(for those items with more than one response, number of responses was included) 

Must-Haves

The required experience or equivalent training 6

Formatting 6

Correct Grammar & spelling 3

Qualification Summary 3

The required education/training and certifications 2

Contact information 2

Unique Selling Proposition 2

Concise not narrative 2

Dates of employment.

Work History 2

Resume really reflects all your skills, talents and abilities. 2

Cover letter 2

Career progression with increasing skills and responsibility 2

Know when to send professional version of resume and then Internet Ready version.

Explain gaps & unusual job changes

Deal-Breakers

Incorrect grammar or spelling 9

Irrelevant Work History 5

Unprofessional email addresses 2

Unexplained gaps in employment 2

Not indicating the position of interest 2

Too long – 3 or more pages 2

Including a photo 2

Vagueness in job duties 2

Rounding job dates

Misrepresenting education and titles

Too narrative

No contact info

Searchable

Hard to read – poor formatting or writing

Exaggeration

Summary statement not aligned to the job/company

No specific results or metrics

Vague dates of employment

Non-customized cover letter

Personal and family information

I fully understand the difficulty in recruiting and selecting top talent, especially with thousands of potential applicants to sort through.  But I doubt many business leaders would agree that eliminating an entire candidate pool which includes motivated top talent for the sake of expediency is good business. 

The assumption behind this practice is that candidates' unemployment must somehow have been related to their performance and completely discounts the depth of organizational cuts due to the recession.

With job creation currently at a fraction of what is needed coupled with this disturbing trend, makes for incredible discouragement to the 15 million unemployed.  While not illegal, this practice certainly feels like discrimination. 

There are no easy answers to our current situation, but if the focus of recruiting and selection remains frimly focused on finding the best match between the job requirements, organizational fit and the candidates' qualifications, there would be one less hurdle for these folks to overcome. 

Any thoughts from the recruiters out there?

For starters…what is a calling?  Well, let’s see how good old Webster’s Dictionary defines a calling…“A strong inner impulse toward a particular course of action especially when accompanied by conviction of divine influence”.

A calling asks you to respond and to take action.  It asks you to be authentic to whom you were created to be.  So if we are being called, then who is doing the calling? 

Well, first a couple of foundational assumptions…you have to agree that we were created in the first place and not just accidentally occurred.  Then, you must accept that our Creator had a reason for creating us. Then it is no stretch to accept that the One who created us, is the One who is calling us to the particular purpose for our creation. 

So, how do hear your calling?  Most likely you've been hearing your calling all your life - whether you've been aware of it or not. 

The first question are you honestly willing to do whatever you may be called to do?  That requires a great deal of faith and trust in the Caller.   Many people never make it past step 1…beacuse of fears about financial security, self-doubt, criticism from others, often times stops us dead in our tracks. 

Ok, so you’re one of the few that are willing to do whatever it take to have an authentic fulfulled life.    Ask for clear direction on what He is calling you to do. Then listen…wait on God’s response…for how long?  Well, that’s up to Him.  This is the really hard part - it requires that you build on your faith with patience!  It may be that you’re being prepared for future action, or your calling may begin tomorrow. 

So you have a strong sense about what your calling is…now, start paying attention… watch for confirmation.  This confirmation can come in your prayer time, in your study of God’s word, at church, from other believers, family and close friends, and from new, unexpected opportunities/circumstances. 

Learning more about how you were designed can be a great way to discover indicators to your calling.  Be careful though not to limit your understanding to only one piece of your unique design.  You are shaped by your personality, your values, interests, spiritual gifts, and your life experiences. 

What makes you particularly excited, joyous, sad, frightened or angry.  Think back to when you've lost track of time because you thoroughly enjoyed what you were doing or you when you worked really hard, but ending up energized and filled with joy.  These can be great indications of your calling. 

Finally, what particularly painful experiences or losses have you endured?  We are never better prepared to help others heal than when we have gone through a trial ourselves. 

So how do you know for sure it’s a calling and not just an idea you have?  Well, here are some characteristics of a true calling:

• It cannot be accomplished in your own strength and with your own abilities - you need God’s help and the help of others.
• It requires major personal adjustments (to your thinking, relationships, commitments, circumstances, actions or beliefs).
• It leads to a crisis of belief that requires faith and action.

Want to learn more about discovering your calling?  I highly recommend a couple great books on the subject: 

Experiencing God: Knowing and Doing the Will of God by Henry Blackaby, Richard Blackaby and Claude King 

The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren. 

Also, check out a new website by a great friend of mine – author, professor, executive coach – Dr. Paul Dyer.  He has free resources to help you asses your awareness of your calling, a personality assessment, great video stories and so much more.  He is now piloting a brand new program – if you are serious about discovering your calling and creating a truly fulfilling life, check it out at http://www.pauldyer.com/.

Finally, within the next couple of months I will be piloting my series of seminars including: Coping with Job Loss, Hearing your Calling, and two others on your personal marketing (resume development, cover letter creation, using social media to find a job, etc.), and interviewing and job-offer negotiation skills. 

More to come!