I know how to get a job. That’s because I haven’t had a job for over a decade.
I do something more difficult. I create a job for myself each and every day.
All of it comes from my network.
In many ways I am surprised that I am writing this blog.
I have used paid interns or assistants since the beginning to help market myself and make me smarter. Continue reading
I recently wrote this article for Marketing Executives Networking Group or MENG.
I often speak on networking and New Business development. I wanted to learn about the best practices in the industry. I remember talking to somebody who worked for a National Speakers Bureau and asked her who masters the speakers’ game when there is a plethora of speakers chasing a limited number of gigs? She shared something short and precise that stuck with me. “It is not always the best speakers,” she said. “It’s the best Marketers.”
I think that the same applies to the job hunting game. During the Great Recession finding a job was like going through the eye of a needle. It seemed at times that the camel had the easier job. Those hiring often set criteria that were so stringent hardly anybody could qualify.
Sure things are getting better in the New Normal. I live in Laguna Niguel and was reading the OC Register the other day. It announced last week that the unemployment rate was 5.8%. The lowest level since 2008. Don’t get too excited because I still get emails from people in Orange County informing me that they have just lost their jobs. Even one today. The company obviously didn’t read the Register.
Still the world is a long way away from 2008 and that is not just because it is 2013. It is because the world is totally different. Changes in technology have had positive and negative impacts.
I can’t find a JAVA Developer for a six figure salary who only has to come into the office one day a week. Then I see marketing people who worked for companies that supply the laptop industry that are on the street. Their company was growing a few years ago but when is the last time you purchased a computer case?
I do believe that the best marketers do get the jobs because I have spoken to transition groups for years. We all know that the mandatories are a dynamite LinkedIn profile and networking.
I am pretty good at networking and building communities. I am one of the Founders of Laguna Niguel Connectors with 3700 members and Canadians in OC with 400 members. I connect with many great people.
However I still see people whose personal marketing skills underwhelm me and others who impress me.
I know a CEO who found his last job by marketing himself through networking exposure. He networked from 8 until 6 having one on one networking meetings, going to events etc. He got a job. Unfortunately it went away after a year when the company was acquired. We talked the other day. You still networking I asked? Sure. I’m having my 244th networking Starbucks this year today. It’s June. Some people haven’t had 244 networking meetings in their life. Will he land a new job? You bet.
I attended a recent meeting for marketing people in transition. Everyone exchanged their resumes. Everybody went to great schools. Everybody worked at great places. A lot were a smarter than me on paper but they hardly knew the street.
Everyone had homogenized themselves to look the same. They learned how to prepare resumes in the Old Normal. They handed out their business cards. If their agencies had produced a similar identity program for them they would have fired them.
Often great Marketers looking for jobs forget their skills and their craft. To get a job in the New Normal you have to market yourself like you marketed your company or directed your agency.
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Prior to reading this you may want to check out It’s Graduation Time. Lesson One.
In the Old Normal extracurricular activities may have made you well rounded. In the New Normal your knowledge of technology makes you king or queen or prince or princess. Know than the hiring manager or your boss will make you valuable. The more you can keep us with technology the more you will rise.
You can only control what you bring into the game and how you use the assets around you. College job fairs are nice but are from the Old Normal. In the New Normal your LinkedIn profile is more important than your resume.
College can tend to homogenize people. Conformity is safe but doesn’t make your distinctive. Real value comes from distinction and being your own identity. It is hard to build an identity when you don’t always have a clear focus on who you are.
In the New Normal networking is more important than hanging around with you peers. You have done that enough already.
In the New Normal creating your own job may be a better way to make money than trying to find a job.
In the New Normal surround yourself a variety of growth mentors. All ages, all disciplines. Start with digital wizards. Have friends who are programmers even if you are a musician.
In the New Normal you need a career plan for yourself. Start by finding ways to monetize your passion. That will provide a career that runs with zero energy and provides positive life emissions.
In the New Normal the distant future is five years. Twitter is 6 years old, Instagram is 2, and Vine has just been born. Target industries and markets that will make your more valuable to the job that comes after this one. Plan your career two steps ahead.
Avoid industries that are going to be Kodak’s in five years.
What skills will make you more valuable in 5 years? What language should you learn? What skills should you acquire? What countries should you visit and expand your connections in? It’s More Romania than Italy. Nice food though.
When I was in college I was reading books about Watergate. President Nixon had a couple of advisors that worked for the advertising firm JWT. I thought that was kind of interesting. I ended up working at JWT for ten years. I wasn’t in advertising, in the United States, and knew nobody. President Nixon used to walk the beaches in San Clemente. I still talk to my college roommates from Canada. We have drinks on the pier in San Clemente close to where I live. My college roommate’s sons live in Shanghai. They must have read Marshall McLuhan.
Where are you going to be and live when your college roommates comes to visit you in the future and how are you going to get there?
You can connect with Hank on LinkedIn:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/hankblankcom
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