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Get Better at Getting Jobs

by admin on February 9, 2013 · 0 comments

It’s not the year 2000 anymore. There is no longer an assembly line that stretches from your college graduation to the front door of your new job. Securing that biweekly paycheck is hard.

You’ve likely applied to 20 jobs per week for the past 6 months. Maybe you’ve been lucky, or your cover letters are inspiring — or both — and you’ve had 40 phone screening interviews and 10 in-person interviews.

But no job offers.

I will never say that getting a job is easy, but if it can be easier if you systematically focus on improving the right skills.

If you asked the average person how good they are at getting jobs, they might tell you “well, I have one, so I guess I must be pretty decent.” They might go on to talk about the hard work they did in school or a previous job and the great GPA or experience they have, or the connections they’ve made, and how those helped. And they would be right.

But if you don’t have a 3.9 from Harvard or an uncle who is a Vice President at Conde Nast, where does that leave you?

Most people will never figure out what they need to improve. They won’t know why they have such difficulty landing a position. They’ll flounder about, continue applying to tens of dozens of jobs, and thanks to the law of large numbers, eventually land a job that they may or may not like. But it will largely be based on luck.

But not you. Here’s the secret:

The more time you spend improving how good you are at getting jobs, the easier it will be to get them.

You can reduce the effect that luck has on your job situation.

It seems too simple. It is. Unfortunately for most people (and fortunately for you), they spend the right amount of time doing the wrong things.

This series is all about getting better at getting jobs. We’ll dissect the process of becoming employed and teach you the tools you need to improve your ability to get jobs. It won’t cover all industries — creative performance-based or freelancing roles are a whole other beast entirely — but if you’re looking to find a job at a company that has some sort of office, this guide is for you.

Read the Series:

  1. Introduction: Get Better at Getting Jobs
  2. Determining Your Passions
  3. Job Search Like a Pro
  4. Don’t Play the Application Game
  5. Don’t Let the Candidate Phone Screen Slow You Down
  6. Preparing for the In-Person Interview
  7. Dominating the In-Person Interview
  8. Navigating Negotations – Securing a Fair Job Offer

 

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“You May Also Like…”

by admin on August 23, 2012 · 0 comments

Please note: I use “offline” and “in-store” interchangeably in this post to mean a physical, brick-and-mortar store location.

I recently purchased two books at a local Barnes and Noble and was surprised when I was given my receipt.

In addition to the normal “this is what you bought and how much you paid for it” slip, I was also handed a small 3×3 inch square of paper:

you may also like product recommends

In-store product recommendations.

That’s right. Barnes & Noble is doing in-store product recommendations.

My personal recs aside (yes — I like poetry and marketing-related entrepreneurship — so what?), this little piece of paper provides us a fantastic launchpad for [click to continue...]

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