Let's Go to MAUI to Land a Job

A common question in an interview is: “Are you willing to relocate?” What’s the right answer? Say, “I’d consider it.” Then once you have a job offer, you have a choice to relocate or turn the job down. I told this to one client, Mark who was really struggling to get more than a series of temp jobs of three to six months. All along he told me he wouldn’t relocate and I kept telling him to say, “I’d consider it,” which he did. That was when the offer came in for a temp to perm position in Maui, Hawaii. For the right offer, we might all relocate, even to a hell hole like Maui.

So how did Mark get to Maui? Actually, Mark made Maui part of his job search. Yes, that’s right, Mark employed, Momentum, Activity, Urgency and Intensity in his job search. Job seekers like Mark have all kinds of obstacles in front of them. Some are so daunting that they start to feel that there is no job out there for them. In Mark’s case his industry had taken a real hit and there just wasn’t enough jobs to go around regardless of how good he was in his profession.

Momentum: The job seeker has to start to do the things job seekers do, every day with consistency. Always improving in the job search skills and continually moving forward with the expectation that something is going to pop just around the corner. Like a snowball going down hill there is a point when nothing will stop it.

Activity: The job seeker needs to do the right things and that activity will dictate their outcome. I’m not talking about activity for activity's sake. For example, going to a job seekers’ networking group once a week is a good activity, going every day isn’t the best use of the job seeker’s time. However, going to 10 different professional and industry networking events in a month will most likely produce the most effective connections. Mark became highly effective in his job search activity.

Urgency: The momentum and effective activity becomes even stronger when a sense of urgency is added to the mix. When goals are made, with dates attached, and then told to those who can help, the goals take on an expectation for completion; a sense of urgency. Often things linger in the background ⚊ nothing moving forward and then someone says it has to be done now... and all of a sudden, it gets done. If you doubt this, ask any tax accountant if there is a difference in getting necessary paperwork and receipts from clients in February as opposed to April.

Intensity: Many job search professionals agree that intensity is the critical element in a productive job search. With momentum, activity and urgency as part of the job search it takes on an intensity of its own. It cannot be denied. This intensity with a positive attitude is a force to be reckoned with. Even if the job seeker stumbles, she is still moving forward, creating her own luck, often turning a negative into a positive.

So let’s go to Maui and employ momentum, effective activity, a sense of urgency with intensity and see what happens.

Networking around the Grille

This is probably my 16th posting on networking since I started blogging. Why? Because it’s very important. So, it’s summertime; people are barbequing in the back yard, picnicking and Networking!!! Let’s look at networking again this time... networking at parties, cookouts and picnics.

   Remember the old Nat King Cole song, Those Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer... but summer is no time to be lazy when you’re looking for a promotion or a new job. It’s really a great time to connect with new people in a pleasant atmosphere. People are feeling good, having a beverage to drink and some good comfort food.

   It’s a great time to connect, but!!! Yes, what do you say to folks? (Well I’m going out on a limb here, against stuff a lot of people before me have told you.) What do you say, not your elevator speech. Yes, you’ve read that correctly. My friend and management guru Joe Takash is quoted as saying:

   Most 'elevator speeches' make the listener want to take the stairs. If you struggle, (which most of us do), in swiftly describing what you do and the value you provide, practice and get feedback.

    Take the pressure off yourself and go the the party, picnic or cookout to have fun. Instead of looking for opportunities to give your elevator speech, look for opportunities to say hi. I like to hang out near the drink cooler or keg. “Hi, can I buy you a beer? By the way, I’m Thomas, here you go.” (I only offer beer or wine to persons over 21 years of age with appropriate identification.) It’s a great way to meet everyone at a party. And by introducing myself, people tend to introduce themselves.

   At many cookouts the “guys” hang around the grill. It’s a guy thing. My wife says that the only reason why men will cook food on a grill is because there is an element of danger. That may be true, or it may be because our ancient ancestors cooked their fresh kills over an open fire and it is in our DNA and it just feels right. Regardless, it’s a safe place to hangout and listen and talk to the fellas.

   At those parties, the ladies congregate with one another over a number of different activities. Sadly, I really don’t have any idea what the women are doing, because I’m a guy and I’m hanging out near the dangerous Weber Grill. But, this is also a great place to say hi, meet new people and connect. It’s been reported to me that women are far more likely to talk and share than men do and I pretty much believe that to be true.

   It doesn’t matter which group you are in, just meet new people and then connect with them. Ask if they are on LinkedIn or Facebook or Pinterest or Google+ or any social media. Then follow up, invite them to join your network, friends, follow your pins or join your circles. Then follow up again and invite them for coffee and there you can share your elevator speech.

Act Professional Even When No One is Looking

I hear this all the time and I repeat it often. You never know who you’ll run into during the day. This really makes sense for folks looking for promotions and new jobs. Yet, I am amazed by the way people act out in public.

People will tell me, “I’d never do that at an interview!” and they believe it. But, some folks won’t ever get the interview because of the poor impression they created at a conference, a talk, a get-together, or a job club meeting. Manners are so often absent in these and many common daily activities, and I’m not even talking about when we get behind the wheel for the commute to and from work. (That would be a blog post all by its self.)

The words “Thanks You” are getting lost in so many situations these days. Try holding the door open at the store or mall for people and listen for the “Thank You.” (If there is a Psychology student out there looking for an experiment ideal, run with this and let me know your findings.) I’m guessing that less than half the time people will fail to say thank you. But that’s not the worst part, I’d guess that 10% of folks won’t even acknowledge that you are holding the door for them. I wonder what the frequency is of “God Bless You,” “Salud” or “Gesundheit” when someone sneezes.

I’ve been at conferences where someone in the audience asks the speaker an embarrassing question or even calls out a typo or miswording in the presentation. Why would anyone want to put down or embarrass a speaker at a conference? I cannot imagine some manager leaning over to his boss and saying, “Bill, we really need a guy like that on our team. How about I talk to him regarding a job offer with us?”

I teach classes on social media in a job search and the question of Facebook always comes up. People posting pictures of people (themselves) being unprofessional. We get asked if a company asking for your Facebook login ID and password is legal? I’m not a lawyer and I cannot say. What I can say is don’t post pictures of yourself or anyone doing something you would not want your mother to see. Then legal or not you've nothing to fear from having a Facebook account.

Hold doors open for people and say bless you when someone sneezes, see the smile on their face. Offer someone the opportunity to go in front of you at the grocery checkout line. Make space for the BMW driver on the highway when the traffic is heavy. Smile at people and say hi as you walk past them. Doing these things will not only bring people’s smiles out; they’ll make you feel good. And you never know, your future employer might be in the crowd and you’ll make a positive impression.

Hunters & Gatherers

    The world is broken into two groups, hunters and gatherers. It is the hunters that go out and seek prey and kill it and bring it home. The gatherers go out, look for what is ripe and collect their bounty and bring it home. Both kinds of people can be successful in a job search. It is not an absolute that men are hunters and women are gatherers. Men can be gatherers and some of the best hunters I know have been women. It’s just a what works best for you.


    Both hunters and gatherers have a plan before they start. Some plans are very detailed and others are more open to spontaneity and going with the flow. The detailed planners plan start with a defined goal and strategies then build in contingencies. The spontaneous folks start with a picture or an ideal of what they are after and then go to work. Again both approaches are equally valid, although regardless of how you plan you’ll probably never understand how it works for the other type of planner.
     So the world we live in is often viewed in binary terms; polar opposites. Left - Right; Up - Down; Woman - Man; Cubs - Sox (or Mets - Yankees if you live around New York). The job search has two parts or phases that are not polar opposites however. These phases are sequential. First get the job offer. When you have an offer you can then evaluate the offer.

    Many job seekers do not see these two phases as separate and distinct... and then they wonder what happened. Folks that recognize the two different steps know that until you have an offer in hand, you really don’t have anything to evaluate. Also any energy you spend evaluating or judging a potential job is not only premature, but could negatively impact your interview, the follow up or other opportunities beyond.

    Before you have an offer, you waste time fretting about salary, working conditions, personalities. All of these things are important and you’ll be collecting data regarding these and more; however, until you have the offer you’re in sales mode and still need to make the sale not expend energy and effort on questions that may never matter.

    When you get the offer, it’s time to take all your impressions and concerns and evaluate the pros and the cons and the salary and the benefits and the boss and the commute and make an informed, calculated decision about the next step in your career. Here is where the research, that we mentioned last week, comes to fruition. Once you have the offer you’re no longer is sales mode, the hiring company is now in sales mode... it’s time to ask all those questions you wanted to ask during the first interview. So go ahead and ask.

    Whether you’re a detailed planning gatherer or a go with the flow hunter, you want to remember the two phases: Getting the job offer first and evaluating the offer second. And have fun along the way.