Wednesday, August 17, 2011

What Not to Say

The four worst words you can say to your boss--"That's not my job."

In this era of straitened circumstances, his next 4 words might be "You're not my employee."

Besides, if you do only your job, how will you learn anything new--or why would they ever promote you?

One of the things new employers will be looking for in the interview is how you showed initiative, how you're self-motivated--a self starter.

So try not to limit yourself.

Not a Numbers Game

Job hunting is not a numbers game, this article agrees. A job search is about targeting--and standing out from the slush pile.

One government ministry had 22 jobs available. They received 30,000 applications. That's 1,363 people vying for each position.

How many of those 1,000+ studied the department and networked with people inside? Nobody's going to look at all 30,000 apps. So if you don't have someone inside keeping an eye out for you, go buy a lotto ticket.

Techniques

Treat a job fair just like an interview. Look sharp, have a short verbal "business card" ready and follow up with a note.

Call and ask for a job, this site says. But why should they hire you?

You'd better know that in detail before you pick up the phone.

Take 5 coffee meetings a week. Never eat lunch alone. Build your network. I like the concept if not the numbers--can you effectively continue to do some good for a couple of hundred people? Probably not. So do a lot of coffee meeting repeats.

Status check! 4 1/2 months left in the year. Does your job search include all these techniques?


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