Sunday, September 30, 2007

Your Hardest Task in Looking for a Job is Dealing With "The Question"

Imagine this scene.

You're at a gathering with family at some holiday or at a get-together with friends when someone tries to make conversation with you by asking "The Question."

Or maybe "The Question" is asked by someone out of the blue who calls you.

What's "The Question?"

"The Question" is, "how is your job search going?"

Or maybe it's "How did that interview turn out?"

We all have questions like that in life. Mine is, "How is your book coming along? It used to turn my stomach because it is asked by people who want to see me fail and have no real interest in me succeeding. Maybe your circumstances are different but those are mine.

So the hardest task you have in looking for is managing your own emotions throughout the process. Even when an interview is internal to your organization, the impact of an interview failure can be emotionally disastrous.

A friend (who i hope remains a friend after reading this) had a disastrous internal interview that would have involved a transfer. His failure was humiliating and took several months to recover from.

You cannot afford several months of recovery time after coming in second.

More than a decade ago, I ran and finished the New York Marathon and from that experience, I learned that much of life is more like a running a marathon, instead of a sprint. You need to be prepared to go longer and further than you ever have, instead of just running for 9 or 10 seconds.

This is another of those cases where patience is a virtue.

Jeff Altman
The Big Game Hunter
Concepts in Staffing
thebiggamehunter@cisny.com

© 2007 all rights reserved.

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter, is Managing Director with Concepts in Staffing, a New York search firm, He has successfully assisted many corporations identify management leaders and staff in many disciplines since 1971. He is a retired certified leader of the ManKind Project, a not for profit organization that assists men with life issues, and a practicing psychotherapist.

To receive a daily digest of positions emailed to you, search for openings that The Big Game Hunter is working on, to use Jeff’s free job lead search engine, Job Search Universe, to subscribe to Jeff’s free job hunting ezine, “Head Hunt Your Next Job, or his staffing ezine, “Natural Selection”, or to learn about his VIP program, go to http://www.jeffaltman.com/.

Explore some of The Big Game Hunter's products in "The Universe" series

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Sunday, September 16, 2007

6 Ways to Know It's Time to Go

For years, I have said that the person who gets ahead, isn't always the smartest or work the hardest . . . although those are great qualities to have. The person who gets ahead is the one who remains alert to opportunity. Sometimes those are internal to your organization. Sometimes, those are external.

On the other hand, the person who avoids professioanal disaster is the one who remains alert to signals and can "read the tea leaves." Here's what to look out for:

1. You suddenly report to someone different. If you are a senior professional, the reporting structue has changed and you now are reporting a ruing or two down from where you were reporting. If you are on staff, you are suddenly re-assigned without even the pep talk about this being the great opportunity.

2. You've gone as high as you can. Look up from your desk and see a manager or director who is around your age and content with his job. Hmm. When you ask yourself the question of "Where can I Really go from here," your answer suggests improving your skills , rather than job function because no one of value will ever leave.

3. Your firm is up for sale or was recently sold. These are pretty similar problems but slightly different. In the first case, there is a warning that business is sour or that management would like to cash out. In the second, the deal is done.

In both cases, the result will be the same--you will help the new management integrtae the operation of the two firms, transferring knowledge that will help make for a smooth operation. Then you will be invited to accept a package to leave or pushed into a dead end job. Sounds exciting!

4. Everything is just being maintained or that's the only kind of work you're assigned. The people who tend to advance are the ones who deliver new "bright shiny objects" to management--the new projects, the sexy work that makes everyone go, "Ooooooooooh." If you are being asked to maintain stuff, you are on the
Dilbert career path."

5. Your new boss is a jerk. No amount of charm on your part will ever take away the loathing you feel when you go to work because you dislike the person you work for. it is compounded if you get the idea that the feeling is mutual.

6. Your industry is on its death bed. Part of what makes a person successful is business knowledge. There was a time where the "buggy whip industry" in the US was huge. Now, you are probably wondering what I'm talking about. In 2001, every telecom firm in the world was doing extremely well. Since, some of them couldn't get themselves arrested.

If your industry is dying, it's time to go before people start attending your career funeral, too.

Giving yourself time to execute an effective job search before things reach crisis proportion is critical. If you stopped and started thinking about any of these signals, it's time to act.

NOW!


Jeff Altman

The Big Game Hunter
Concepts in Staffing
thebiggamehunter@cisny.com

© 2007 all rights reserved.

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter, is Managing Director with Concepts in Staffing, a New York search firm, He has successfully assisted many corporations identify management leaders and staff in many disciplines since 1971. He is a retired certified leader of the ManKind Project, a not for profit organization that assists men with life issues, and a practicing psychotherapist.

To receive a daily digest of positions emailed to you, search for openings that The Big Game Hunter is working on, to use Jeff’s free job lead search engine, Job Search Universe, to subscribe to Jeff’s free job hunting ezine, “Head Hunt Your Next Job, or his staffing ezine, “Natural Selection”, or to learn about his VIP program, go to http://www.jeffaltman.com/.

Explore some of The Big Game Hunter's products in "The Universe" series

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Find thousands of Bilingual jobs at LatPro.com.
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Saturday, September 15, 2007

The Top 25 Places for a Person to Begin a Career

The September 2007 issue of Businessweek lists these companies as the top firms to begin a career:

1. Deloitte & Touche

2. Pricewaterhouse Coopers

3. Ernst & Young

4. IBM

5. Google

6. Microsoft

7. Walt Disney

8. Acecnture

9, Lockheed Martin

10. Teach for America

11. KPMG

12. General Electric

13. Goldman Sachs

14. Boeing

15. Abbott Labs

16. Merrill Lynch

17. JPMorganChase

18. BP America

19. US State Department

20. General Mills

21. Hyatt

22. Capital One

23. Peace Corps

24. Johnson & Johnson

25. Macy's


What was noticeable to me were the number of accounting firms on the list and how well rated they were.


Jeff Altman

The Big Game Hunter
Concepts in Staffing
thebiggamehunter@cisny.com

© 2007 all rights reserved.

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter, is Managing Director with Concepts in Staffing, a New York search firm, He has successfully assisted many corporations identify management leaders and staff in many disciplines since 1971. He is a retired certified leader of the ManKind Project, a not for profit organization that assists men with life issues, and a practicing psychotherapist.

To receive a daily digest of positions emailed to you, search for openings that The Big Game Hunter is working on, to use Jeff’s free job lead search engine, Job Search Universe, to subscribe to Jeff’s free job hunting ezine, “Head Hunt Your Next Job, or his staffing ezine, “Natural Selection”, or to learn about his VIP program, go to http://www.jeffaltman.com/.

Explore some of The Big Game Hunter's products in "The Universe" series

Plus

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Have You Ever Be Wrong?

People have opinions.

Most are wrong but people believe they are right about anything they say. I know that's true because, like you, I do it all the time.

I see something or someone and, when I listen to the voice that pops into my head, I notice how stupid or ridiculous those opinions are. My mind makes up stories about what that person is like-- How smart or stupid they are. How successful or what a loser they are.

As smart as I am, I have learned how ridiculous my mind can be.

When I interview people, I always ask, "Are there any firms, that for any reason, you would not consider working because of things you've heard, opinions you have? Any reason whatsoever?"

I do this, not to get into an argument but to learn the biases someone has.

So imagine my surprise when I called someone to schedule an interview and discover that my client was one of the firms that they wouldn't work for (even though I had asked them).

I listened for a while and then said, "Please go. I think your judgment of this firm smacks of the sort of criticism of people who left there some years ago. Maybe they failed. Maybe they were passed over for a promotion. I don't know. Just check it out for yourself.

"If, at the end of the day, you have the same opinion you do now, I promise I will not argue with you. I'll ask you what you saw and what gave you that idea so that I can learn from it. But I promise not to argue."

I would have kept that promise but it became unnecessary when I received a call after the person spent three hours with them and called me and said, "Jeff, I have never been so wrong about something professionally as this."

I won't go into all the details (I wouldn't be able to quote them like this anyway). They had spent three hours with them, met five people, gotten a feel for the firm and fallen in love.

So, I want to suggest to you that, when confronted by a situation like this, don't cancel the interview. Go, prepared to ask questions about the things you've heard. As my friend David did before an interview, he used Google to find former employees in the department he was interviewing for to learn about the good, the bad and the ugly about the firm so that he could ask great questions.

At the end of the day, if you don't feel differently or hear answers that make sense, if you don't trust the people or find the work boring, DON'T TAKE THE JOB.

But you may also have gotten a jaded former employees opinions that have nothing to do with you. You may, like this person, discover that the job is one you want and crave.

Jeff Altman

The Big Game Hunter
 Concepts in Staffing
thebiggamehunter@cisny.com

© 2007 all rights reserved.

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter, is Managing Director with Concepts in Staffing, a New York search firm, He has successfully assisted many corporations identify management leaders and staff in many disciplines since 1971. He is a retired certified leader of the ManKind Project, a not for profit organization that assists men with life issues, and a practicing psychotherapist.

To receive a daily digest of positions emailed to you, search for openings that The Big Game Hunter is working on, to use Jeff’s free job lead search engine, Job Search Universe, to subscribe to Jeff’s free job hunting ezine, “Head Hunt Your Next Job, or his staffing ezine, “Natural Selection”, or to learn about his VIP program, go to www.jeffaltman.com.

Explore some of The Big Game Hunter's products in "The Universe" series

Plus

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