A recent visit to a public restroom made me smile. I was hoping nobody saw me smiling, but it was quite humorous. In this recently remodeled restroom, everything was automated. To wash my hands, I placed one hand under a U-shaped pipe, which squirted soap. I then moved my hand under the faucet, and water flowed out. When I then needed towels, I waved a hand in front of a paper towel dispenser, and a towel rolled out. Yes, I could have placed my hands under an automatic dryer too. Such advanced automation made me smile and started me thinking, Why can’t the job search be so simple? And indeed, when searching for a job, we find that almost everything is still done manually.
Yes, you need to create a résumé. Yes, most people ask their friends to just “look at it” and suggest improvements. No, your friends are not professionals, but they can still offer you advice. My suggestion is that you get a professional resume writer to assist you. It will cost you some money, but would you have your car repaired by your friend who’s an amateur? And when you get really sick, would you consult your friend who typically gives you health-related advice? If you post your résumé and nobody calls, that means your résumé is lacking. A well-written résumé that highlights years of significant accomplishments will get reaction. If your résumé is written in an intriguing way that arouses curiosity about how you achieved your results and how you could do the same for others, then your phone will ring. When passing billboards on the highway, do you notice them? Some of them you may still remember.
And then comes interview preparation. So you think that since you’ve gotten jobs in past, you can be good at it again? Really? Today’s extraordinarily competitive job market rewards only the very best. There’s no gold, silver, and bronze here. Gold or nothing! So think again about your need of a professional for preparing for that interview. As a career coach, I help job seekers every single day. In the past I used to think that the more senior an executive is, the less preparation the person needs. Not so, I found out. At times even though executives might be more articulate than average, many of them—just like nonexecutives—still neither understand nor know how to apply the strategy of convincing an interviewer that they represent the ideal candidate.
The only automation within a job search consists of the various alerts one can set up so that when certain keywords appear in a job posting, the job seeker gets alerted. Try setting up an e-mail alert via indeed.com. You can also use Google Alert for specific keywords etc. I’m hopeful that technology will evolve to make the job search easier and more automated. Until then, job seekers have to do things manually, and my advice is to get professional help. Those of you associated with the real estate industry know the expression FISBO. This is the pronunciation for the acronym FSBO which means for sale by owner. These are the do it yourselfers. People not using real estate agents do save on commission. But how long is their house on the market? Do you know the tactics how to negotiate for a better price? Be smart in whatever you decide doing.
