Job Counseling in Hard Times

Your clients need a way to showcase their skills to hiring managers.

Time Crunch

Time is the first obstacle. Hiring managers are busy. Minimum staff and tightened budgets have increased the demands on their time. Irritated customers want personal attention; the auditors are getting picky; and the Web site is a hacker target.

Multiple, persistent dilemmas have made managers immune to non-crisis requests. As a result, your client's attempts to meet with the manager on issues such as company needs, potential openings, or his/her special skills will be rebuffed.

The solution is contained in the problem itself.

The Solution Game

Hiring managers spend their days looking for solutions. Some are band-aids that will hold for a month; others, like calling in the consultant, are budget killers. In hard times, solutions are an endless stream of compromises.

The manager's struggle to survive in complex times is pragmatic, ugly, and often sleazy. They are desperate for solutions.

There lies the answer.

If your clients can solve one of the manager's problems, they are golden. Not only will they gain access, they will be treated like a savior.

The Package

Okay, let's say one of your clients has a solution. How can he/she get it to the hiring manager? Good question.

A well-written article provides a very nice delivery vehicle. At a glance, the manager can see your client's suggestion. And, logistic obstacles disappear -- the article doesn't have to wait for an opening in the schedule, or for a flight to land. A solution article is portable.

If your client is not comfortable with his/her writing skills, Donald Murray's book, Revision Techniques, offers step-by-step guidance through the article development process.

Three pages is the minimum. Your client needs to demonstrate expertise. There must be enough detail to show an understanding of the issue, the solution, and any hidden difficulties.

Topics

If your clients have been in an industry for a while, they should be able to list out a dozen problem areas.

For example, a software development organization would typically be experiencing problems with:

If your clients are looking to break into a new industry and don't have a sense of the issues, they need to search the journals for topics.

Entry-level individuals often think they don't know enough for an article. In fact, because the learning experience is still fresh in their mind, their insights produce excellent how-to-get-started pieces.

Examples of how-to-get-started articles:

Service oriented people are good sources of material. You may need to help them recognize how important everyday situations are to the bottom line of the business.

For example, service related articles might include:

Using the Web

With a solution article in hand, the next step is to make it available.

The Web offers an excellent distribution channel. It's inexpensive; it offers a direct connection to thousands of potential hiring managers; and it handles rewrites in stride.

It's difficult to grasp how much leverage the Web can bring to a job hunt. The name of the game is exposure, and the Web's distribution potential is huge. (We'll look at the numbers and contact techniques in the upcoming sections.)

If your client is new to Web publishing, Laura LeMay's book, Teach Yourself Web Publishing, provides a user-friendly place to start. She steps through the basics of constructing a Web site, from finding an ISP (Internet Service Provider), to getting files uploaded.

If they wish additional help creating the site together, their local ISP should have suggestions and may offer setup services.

Writing solution articles may seem like a departure from the traditional job hunt. The articles, however, could be positioned as an expanded form of knowledge networking, so the larger system remains intact.

If the idea of writing articles rubs you the wrong way (granted, it is a different approach to the job hunt), please continue reading. The potential for knowledge networking may not be obvious at this point. Once you get a sense of the entire contact system, you will have a better appreciation of the secondary benefits.

Additional Reading

The Best Writing on Writing by Jack Heffron (Editor). Story Press, 1994.
* Let's you feel that you're not alone in the writing struggle.

The Craft of Revision, 4th by Donald M. Murray. Heinle, 2000.
* The question arises, "How do I approach putting an article together?" Mr. Murray offers far and away the best book for organizing and making an article interesting. Highly recommended!

Teach Yourself Web Publishing in 21 Days by Laura LeMay. Sams, 2001.
* Ms. LeMay leads the beginner through Web publishing. Absolutely user friendly and at a pace that matches someone starting out.