What are some tangible actions middle level managers can take right now to improve their odds of being hired?

First, STOP with the resumes, email blasts, job boards, and interviewing. 80-90% of jobs come from networking, not going through “official channels.”

Second, START looking at yourself as a business who needs to figure out:

·  What you are passionate about

·  What you really want to do from last week’s list

·  Where do you want to work

·  What that company is looking for in skills, cultural fit, character, etc.

·  What are the issues or gaps that you need to address before going to the company

·  What competitive value you can offer to a prospective hiring manager

·  How to brand yourself

·  How to communicate your message

·  How to network into influencers, trusted advisors, and decision makers who will see why they would “want” to hire you versus the masses waiting outside sending in their resumes.

If you cannot follow these simple points, why should they hire you?

Most of your competition is looking on job boards and sending out resumes. You can do better than that.

What sort of new skills and/or education should mid-life, middle management job-seekers consider to do to improve their prospects.

First, figure out what you want to do and where you want to do it.

Second, find out from that company or industry what skills and education you need to technically qualify for the job. You may not even need more training in your field.

Third, recognize that technical fit is the ticket to getting into first level cull list. 50% of the hiring decision assumes you are qualified, and shifts to your appearance, likeability, cultural fit, affinity interests, passion, trustworthiness, and a host of emotional feelings. A buyer (hiring manager) buys based upon gut feel (emotion), confirmed by facts (technical fit), and by politics (internal consensus). In most cases, a person who learns how to sell and market themselves can get a tentative job decision – and perhaps even get to write the job description before being sent down to HR to start the legal review and interview political process.

Think of this path as learning a new sport. You can watch football and think you know the rules. You can get up and learn the sport by playing it. You can get better through coaching and the bumps and bruises of experience. Who do you think will get to play on game day?

How long will the doldrums for this segment persist? Will more middle management positions for the 35’s and 45’s open up again in the near future?

No one knows how long this cycle will last. Some believe we are in an up cycle. Others believe we are about to experience a double dip. In my opinion, reactively doing what everyone else is doing may eventually result in a job. However, proactively learning the skills and process of how insiders and businesses get jobs can only help them get a job sooner. If they continue developing those skills, they will learn a new process that will last for a lifetime of job transitions and career growth regardless of the economy.

 

 

 

What are the special challenges that middle age job hunters face?

Special challenges, in addition to those mentioned earlier, include:

Increasing competition for jobs

·  Former executives and middle management who previously retired took a financial hit during the 2009 financial downturn. Now, they are either needing income to pay bills or they are concerned about not having enough money to live on when they can no longer work. Many are trying to re-enter the workforce.

·  Traditionally, there was an outflow of managers retiring whose departure opened the door for remaining managers to survive or for slots to become available. Cash needs, fear, and uncertainty have caused many managers to defer retirement.

·   The U.S. has encouraged immigration, especially of highly educated and trained foreign nationals. While a positive move in strong economic growth cycles, these high quality immigrants have increased the competition for U.S. jobs.

Perception of being more expensive

·  Older managers usually have higher salaries than younger managers

·  Older managers frequently have higher health risks and costs

·  Older managers may still expect to be on a pension or bonus plan that is no longer affordable

Perception of being out of date or too old

·  Many managers are professionally or technically out of date. One example is someone I know who still prefers pencils and paper for logistics rather than today’s integrated technology solutions.

·  Older people are perceived as not wanting to change or innovate – which runs counter to today’s business hyper-change environment.

·  Managers often feel their value is to manage people, but not necessarily produce results or add value. That was yesterday’s model.

Some might ask,  “Is it a case of being over-qualified for entry level-jobs but not sufficiently qualified/experienced for upper management, or is their situation more complex and nuanced than that?”

Being told that you are “over-qualified” is merely a polite phrase to avoid the deeper concern that, when the economy recovers, you will leave for another managerial position with another company. In most cases, you may actually be “under-qualified” to do today’s entry level jobs. Many managers are out of date technically or educationally to perform entry level work.  They may also have emotional challenges when demoted. Why hire a former manager when you can hire a lower cost, passionate, high energy, technically current, and recently educated young person?

For upper management positions the issue is often a lack of experience and proven results. The average tenure of today’s C-Level position executive is from 18 to 24 months. It would be hard to convince a similar size company that a former manager would be the best candidate for senior executive positions when many experienced senior executives are also looking for work.

What can these people do to improve their chances of finding a job? Is it a case of lowering their sights or aiming high for upper-management?

First, they need to face reality that the world has changed. It has become highly competitive with fewer available jobs. That means they need to learn how to compete in the same way that businesses compete for jobs. The unemployed is a product or service trying to market and sell oneself into a job. How are you competing with other products and services looking for placement?

Just implementing a few of these principles can help someone compete at much higher levels.

The first step is to review the many options that you actually have:

·  Try to get their old job back or a similar position in a similar company

·  Try to move into senior management in a smaller company. For example, a controller in a larger company may fit as a CFO in a smaller company.

·  Become a consultant

·  Become a fractional manager who works a day or more at each of several client companies who cannot afford a full-time employee

·  Become a contract worker. Companies will often look to contact solution companies, such as Tatum, to fill interim positions or to handle a specific project

·  Start your own business

·  Partner with others to start a business

·  Buy a franchise

·  Change careers

·  Work for non-profits…

In my opinion, any of these are better than targeting entry level or lower level positions.

 

Hopelessness Versus SEE

Hopelessness Versus See
MP3 NOT For
Redistribution

Making A Career Change By Starting A Business

Making a Career Change By Starting A Business
MP3 NOT For
Redistribution

What Are Other Career Change Options?

What Are Other Career Change Opportunities?
MP3 NOT For
Redistribution

Are You Interested In A Career Change?

Are You Interested In A Career Change?
MP3 NOT For
Redistribution

Job Searching using Job Boards or HR leads is a Consumer Sale, not a Business Sale

If you read Job Searching is a Business to Business Sale, NOT a Consumer Sale parts one through three, you will understand why what I am about to say. If you have not read them, please read them before reading further.

Job Boards and HR are efficient ways for companies to filter the mass amounts of potential candidates for specific job openings in a company.

HR is a matchmaker of qualified leads from a mass group of job seekers. HR does not make the hiring decision; the hiring manager makes the decision. HR uses the job description that the hiring manager approves. The financial approval to make the hire is often at a higher level than the hiring manager.

HR uses job boards, company website submissions, college campus recruiting, job fairs, and other activities to help them generate leads that tie to qualified candidates.  Then the screening occurs.

Electronic screening through electronic resume submissions are often key word focused. If you don’t have the right key word, you may stay lost in internet space or Never Never land.

Paper resumes or electronic resumes who pass the screening process are then reviewed by an HR recruiter. A typical review lasts 5 to 10 seconds.

To be fair to HR, how else could they get from thousands of submissions to a target number of 10-20 that can be called for a telephone screening?

The telephone screening then leads to 4-6 candidates that may be interviewed by phone, video conference, or in person. HR usually coordinates all interviewing and maintains documentation for legal hiring compliance.

HOWEVER, it is the hiring manager or her boss who usually makes the hiring decision; not HR. So the goal of getting a job is either to run through the rat maze of job boards, HR, and interviewing (consumer sale approach) or to do what insiders do to get the best jobs (business sale approach). Jobpreneurshipä does not demean those wanting to go through the rats maze but it does focus on the business sale approach.

In every case, HR will be involved at some point. If no one is going through the business sale approach, the HR conduit is the only source for candidates. Also, HR must eventually be involved to ensure company policies are followed, government regulations are followed, and to give their review and advice to the hiring manager.

The insider knows how to make the business sale and then is directed to HR AFTER the emotional decision to hire by the hiring manager has already been made.

What Does The White House Say About Unemployment?

Bloomberg news reported that White house aides suggest that unemployment will remain high for an extended period of time. Their budget forecast is an average of 10% throughout 2010. I also heard that these projections are for the next three years – although I only verbally heard that comment on the radio.

What do I think?

My concern is that if the White House, who claims to be laser focused on jobs, has given up and assumes no change in the employment picture, then we may have at bigger issue. At best case, based upon the typical cheerful political projections, we are looking around 10% on a sustained basis. At worst case, particularly since our national debt and tax picture continues to deteriorate, we are looking at the potential for a much higher number.

But wait! What is the “real” unemployment number? Fox news has suggested that it is currently around 17%. Actually, these numbers are estimates based upon many assumptions. However, even the New York Times admits that there are pools of people beyond the “reported” unemployment number who include those under employed (taking a lower level job just to get money in the door) or who have given up hope and who may return to an active job search later.

So, what is the real number? My guess is that we are somewhere between 17-23% depending upon who you talk to; so I am suggesting that 20% is a fair number to work with. That does not mean that the real number may not be lower or higher from month to month. That is not the issue.

The issue is:

• If 17%, that means 1 out of every 6 people is unemployed or underemployed.
• If 20%, that means 1 out of every 5 people is unemployed or underemployed
• If the White House suggests an “extended period of high unemployment”, then we have a no short term reason to expect otherwise
• If our national debt and taxes continue to go up, the forecast will only get worse. Why? Higher cost of debt reduces capital needed to grow businesses. Higher taxes reduces consumption needed to grow businesses. No business growth leads to more work force reductions.

What do you think?

Next week, I will tell you why I think this Spring is a ray of sunshine!

Secrets of Networking, Part 10

The tenth point from a blog by Charlie Robertson from the book “Deserve What You Get” by Jay Levinson is:

10. Initiative – starting something is important, but you must carry it through and complete it. This earns respect from the people you are with.

Actually, initiative and follow-through are two different animals. You may start something, but I may have to finish it.

It is my observation that most people have little to no initiative. They like the status quo and dislike change unless it favors them. Most seldom start any new project and oppose those who do.

Therefore, those who do have initiative are to be encouraged and mentored to continue volunteering, continue creating new ideas, continue connecting the dots, and continue stepping out on the edge.

Not finishing what you start is not always wrong. If you learn after you start that you are going the wrong way, then stopping or turning directions is wise indeed.

Most successful entrepreneurs are self-initiators. Most intrapreneurs (entrepreneurs within a corporate structure) are self-initiators. Most jobpreneurs are self-initiators. Most fail – many times; but the winners get up and keep learning, keep trying new ideas, and keep reaching for the stars. They may not reach the stars, but I would rather be surrounded by those with initiative than those who sit on the bench.

It is said that Thomas Edison tried over 10,000 ways to create the light bulb. He got up from each failure with the knowledge that he learned from the last failure how to not repeat the same mistake and then initiated a new approach, and a new approach, and a new approach…until he succeeded. Then he began on his next initiative. If you tour his old factory, I am sure that you will see many ideas that never made the light of day. Yet many of his inventions changed America.

Be an initiator. Then, add to that trait persistence, perseverance, and never giving up. Eventually you will succeed.

The smartest initiators start something and then surround themselves with those who implement their ideas. Many of them are called business owners.

My advice, the hardest step is to get started. Get up. Get started. Get help to accomplish your goals.

Secrets of Networking, Part 9

The ninth point from a blog by Charlie Robertson from the book “Deserve What You Get” by Jay Levinson is:

9. Enthusiasm – enthusiasm is said to be self-confidence in action. It comes before success. Positive enthusiastic energy is one of the most sought after traits.

Actually, I disagree. Passion is the source of enthusiasm, energy, and perseverance. It is a secret ingredient to success.

Enthusiasm without passion is generally self manufactured and will die with challenging circumstances. Enthusiasm without substance is not a pretty sight. It can be over-reaching, arrogant, and obnoxious. It can also be based upon false reality and delusion; which can be destructive.

Here is a suggested formula: Belief System + Values + Passion + Mission = an irresistible force that will accomplish something. What it accomplishes depends upon what the belief system and values are based upon.

In searching for results in life, I strongly recommend that you look beneath the surface to be sure that the foundation is solid. True lifetime success is built upon a solid foundation.

Do I like enthusiasm? Of course! It is contagious! I am even more excited when it is based upon substance and principles that agree with my conclusions of a strong foundation.

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