By MARVIN WALBERG
Scripps Howard News Service
Duncan Mathison, executive career consultant and former vice president of Drake Beam Morin, and Martha I. Finney, employee engagement consultant, are authors of
"Unlock the Hidden Job Market: 6 Steps to a Successful Job Search When Times are Tough" (FT Press). The title is long, but the book gets to the point quickly with Mathison's mantra for discouraged job seekers -- "Never Give Up -- Never Give In."
Here are five tips for job search survival when times are tough, compliments of Mathison's and Finney's book:
1. "Prepare for an extended search. When the job market shrinks, it takes longer to land a job. Adjust finances and your expectations now to extend your staying power. Stopping the search until the economy improves is like the farmer who will go hungry at harvest because he didn't plant seeds in the spring. Do not give up -- keep planting the seeds."
2. "Don't waste your time on long-shots. If you are only applying to posted jobs and those seem far and few, your tendency is to cast a wider net by applying outside your geographic area and outside of your expertise. This is a dead end strategy. When it comes to job postings: focus, focus, focus."
3. "The right job for you is out there -- it just won't be advertised. Employers cut recruiting budgets when times are tight. They use less expensive and informal word of mouth strategies. Job seekers must significantly expand the quality and quantity of their networking efforts to find unpublished jobs."
4. "Leave the resume at home. Instead of a resume, give people in your network (everyone you know) a list of employers who you think would hire people with your type of skills. Do not ask if the companies are hiring. Instead, ask if anyone knows people who work there -- particularly managers who might hire people with your skills.
5. "Contact managers directly. Get their name, get an introduction and introduce yourself. Your introduction can be a simple, 'I understand you have people with my kind of background and skills working for you. I would like to meet with you and learn more about the type of people you like to have on your team.' They may say 'no', but now they know about you, and the only way they can be successful is to hire great people -- like YOU!"
(Marvin Walberg is a job search coach. Contact him at mwalberg(at)bellsouth.net, marvinwalberg.blogspot.com, or PO Box 43056, Birmingham, AL 35243.)
