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NYT: "Out of Work, Out of Benefits..."

How is he managing his job search?

NYT: “Out of Work, Out of Benefits…”

By In Blog, News On April 4, 2014


Annie Lowery’s  NYT story Out of work, out of  benefits, and running out of options about Abe Gorelick’s experience raises a lot of questions for me as a headhunter.  I wish she wrote more about what specifically Abe is doing to conduct his job search, who he’s speaking with, the jobs he’s targeting and the specific results he’s getting (non-replies, polite disinterest letters or emails, actual interviews, or nothing at all).  I checked out Abe’s LinkedIn profile and it looks pretty solid.  The article said that he’s been doing some “freelance and consulting work” but there’s no further information – why he was unable to expand his freelance work into a business, why consulting ventures haven’t turned into longer term engagements, etc.

The article continues to say that research shows that only 1 in 10 “long term unemployed” whose positions were eliminated between 2008 and 2012 have been able to find new relevant jobs and cites potential discrimination against unemployed people and, more importantly, creeping discouragement with the process.  A new program launched by the Institute of Career Transitions hopes to address some of the discouragement by assigning coaches to individual unemployed people to provide feedback, guidance and generally be a sounding board for frustration.  One benefit they’ve noticed is that the job seekers feeling some level of accountability to the coaches, meaning they want to show that they’ve done the work.  The program is still in its early phases so not that many people have landed new jobs yet but the feedback / coach relationship seems especially helpful in terms of allowing candidates to get and share a sense of accomplishment for continuing to do the job search work.

How do people who don’t have access to employment coaches avoid becoming discouraged and continue to be productive in their searches?

This is tough for me too as a recruiter who spends a lot of time marketing candidates to potential clients, an activity that is very much like what job seekers perform to get their own jobs.  How do I deal with it?  In my book I describe several methods that allow me to stay focused and keep performing.  Two of which are, first, knowing that I’m looking for the right jobs and taking satisfaction from completing specific daily tasks.

Knowing that I’m looking for the “right” jobs comes from defining and validating the value proposition for the candidates I’m marketing and doing research to both compare them to their peers and identify hiring managers that their skills.  The research work is crucial and allows me to learn, validate and calibrate on an ongoing basis.

Taking satisfaction from completing specific daily tasks means allowing myself to feel good about the work I did in any given day.  I define a set of tasks, including things like marketing phone calls and emails and ongoing research and contact list development, then I break the tasks into daily increments and work through them until I finish the day’s work.  Then I stop and do something else – preferably away from the computer.  Now, one advantage I have is that I have enough experience to believe in my process as a whole, so I know that if I complete my daily tasks every day, then eventually I will make a placement (or in job seeker terms, get a job).  However, among the points I make in the book is that the experience that gives me faith in the process is not strictly necessary.  People can begin to build their faith in the process by doing the work as well.

Bottom line:  Most people don’t have access to “coaching” or headhunters who will do the work for them.  Instead, they have to find alternative ways to derive satisfaction from their daily job search activities and maintain their focus.  It’s not easy and it gets less so as unemployed time goes on but it is necessary to maintain a good pace.  For myself, I often think of it as a war in which I won’t win every battle but I will win the war.  I believe in my research and strive to do quality work – every day.  The rest is simply numbers, enough of them and I’ll get what I want.  Persistence is key.

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