Step 321: Some Serious Job Search Advice

As the end of the year draws closer, people think about new beginnings. And sometimes those new beginnings involve looking for a new job. I’ve done plenty of job searching and interviewing in my day – both internally with a company and externally when I want to switch companies. I like movement and progress; I like a challenge and am most comfortable on a vertical learning curve.

Because of where I work now and the nature of my work as a product developer, I get a lot of emails and phone calls asking for job search advice. I try to be as helpful as I possibly can and thought I could bundle up my advice into a post that explains a bit about my job search process. The information below is very biased – it’s just what’s worked for me and I hope parts of it are really useful to you or someone you know who’s currently on the look out for a new role.

Buy The Right Job, Right Now
This is the first piece of advice I give anyone whenever they’re looking for a job. My friend, Susan, wrote this amazing job search book. I use it every single time that I even think of looking for any new opportunity. She’s brilliant and wise and articulate. She’s also a barrel of laughs so you’ll read this book, and actually have a good time while developing a solid job search plan. I keep the kaleidoscope I created as a result of the book tacked up at my desk at work. It’s that good.

Networking in the right way is critical
You know you should it but the thought of it makes your stomach turn. You’re not alone. I used to be like that, too. And then I began to realize that networking is just a conversation to learn more about someone you’re just getting to know. Think about it more from the angle of what you can give rather than what you can get. Ask questions about their experience; don’t ask for access to their network right off the bat. If their network is worth having, they aren’t going to hand it over to a complete stranger any more than they’re going to hand you a $100 bill. Remember that their network is their most important asset, and just asking to be welcomed into it and not be asked to use it is like inviting yourself to dinner at their house. By giving access to their network, you’re asking to be let into their life and introduced to their inner circle. Tread lightly. Prove yourself, and the door to those networks you covet will open in due time. Be patient and respectfully persistent.

You’re always looking for a job
Look before you actually need a job. Always be looking. At every party and every time you walk down the street. Opportunity is EVERYWHERE. And you don’t need to be obnoxious in your networking; just remain aware and make a mental note about interesting ideas that you hear and see. You’d be surprised by how many people in this world are terrible listeners. Make yourself an expert listener, follow-up with someone on an interesting idea you learned, and you’ll reap the rewards.

Set a time line
When I wanted to leave my first job out of business school, I told a friend of mine that I was giving myself a two month time line. She laughed at me out loud and said, “Well, Christa, that’s too soon and there’s no way in this economy (summer 2008) that you can make that happen. If you do, I’ll need to find out your secret.” I was a little hurt, honestly, but now I was really fired up. I had an offer for a new job (in financial services, no less) 5 weeks later. I got a 10% pay increase and a far shorter commute that allowed me to sell my car and take the subway instead, plus it was still in my field of innovation. It took my doubting friend a year and a half to find a new job – she never set a time line for herself. Give yourself a time line – it helps.

If someone asks you for your ideal job, have an answer
When I was in business school, I did an off-grounds job search, meaning I didn’t want a job with any firms recruiting at the school. I got a contact name for a recruiter at a company that was interesting to me. They didn’t have an job posting that were interesting to me so I cold-called him, and he picked up. His first and only question was, “what’s your ideal job?” I made up an answer on the fly, and laid out exactly what I wanted. My pie-in-the-sky job. And as if by some miracle of divine intervention it was available with an amazing boss at a good salary. Yes, there was a serious dose of luck there. But I was also ready to be lucky – all my job searching and interviewing for almost a year had prepared me for that one moment when someone said, “tell me what you want.”

Show that you can deliver
I hear from soon-to-be MBAs all the time, and when I ask them about their job search focus, 9 times out of 10 I hear “Well, I’d really like to do strategy work.” And I clunk my head on my desk. Of course they to do strategy work – everyone does. But what’s just as important, if not more so, is to be able to deliver on the strategy. Strategy doesn’t get a budget line, products and services that make money do. Make sure you get your name attached to the money. I was ridiculously lucky in all of my jobs to have a strategy component, and believe it or not I had to fight for the execution side. And here’s why I did fight for it – you can construct the most thoughtful, elegant strategy on the planet, but if you can’t bring it to life so people can use it, your work doesn’t matter. Mediocre strategy, well-executed, can move mountains – I’ve seen it and lived it. Lovely powerpoints are just that – pieces of paper with colorful shapes and graphs that will eventually end up in the recycle bin. It’s what comes from the strategy and makes it out into the world that makes a difference. And it gets you paid.

Be a thought leader
My blog has gotten me the three roles I have since b-school more than any of my experience and education. I’m not kidding. It’s the first thing that every interviewer who sees my resume asks about. And they read it and follow it. I’ve had people recruit me because they came across my blog. Because I write regularly, it also shows determination and commitment – two traits that are attractive to companies. And they get to know me as a person as well as a professional. If you’re passionate about your work, write about it consistently. You’ll be amazed by how many people care about what you think.

Have follow-through
When I was a very young theatre manager I worked for a woman named Charlotte Wilcox. She’s still a very strong voice in the Broadway theatre community, and has had a very impressive career. She’s also tough as nails and hands-down the most demanding boss I ever had. And as many tears as I cried working for her, she was one of my very wisest teachers. I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything. She taught me to survive, in great environments and in crummy ones, too. She gave me two very concrete pieces of advice. I need to have them drafted up and framed to hang in my workspace:

1.) “Don’t ever ask anyone who works for you to do anything you’re not willing to do yourself.” (a.k.a., don’t give people crappy work that you think is beneath you)

2.) “Always follow through”

Now, she delivered those messages to me under very harsh conditions that literally left me feeling like a rag doll, but the power of those words is well-worth the energy it took out of me to learn those lessons. I left Charlotte’s office 9 years ago, and those lessons still stick with me.

Bad design haunts you forever, and that includes how you design your job search
That quote is part of Bob G.’s lexicon. I worked for Bob in my first job after b-school and it was like getting another master’s degree in innovation and product development. As much as Charlotte taught me how to survive, Bob taught me how to thrive, and I needed both lessons. Some days, you’re just trying to get through and some days you’re surging up the mountain at lightning speed. That’s the nature of the job search and the nature of work. You think you’re spinning your wheels, but that muscle you’re building in the process is really valuable. Stick to your job search design and embellish it with the lessons you learn as you go along. A bad plan leads to a bad search. See Susan’s book for more details on how to build that plan!

That’s my 2+ cents on the job search process. What’s worked for you? How’s your search going? How can I help?