Whether you are an operations manager, an internal HR professional, senior finance executive, or a key player on the IT team—ANY experienced and valued professional job seeker—ALL and EVERYONE wants to become a valued partner in the business of their next employer. Everyone wants a voice in strategic decisions and to be included in ‘the conversation.’
To truly be included, you need to be invited. And you will only be invited if you are seen as absolutely essential to the TEAM. Remember, team player and team leader CAN BE interchangeable terms.
THIS WEEK’s Session, Thursday, June 13th: Closing The Deal II: Interview TACTICS, including POST-Offer negotiation.
All too often, a job seeker finds themselves in the mode of seeking “tips and tricks” leading to greater job search success. It’s NOT that simple. Rather, it takes a commitment to “embracing the OTHER job market” and following the more systematic, methodical, predictable 12 Steps. Each step interacts with the others to propel your successful search for the right next opportunity!
When you’ve followed all 12 Steps, you are in position to on-board yourself with your next employer… BETTER than they can do for themselves….
- ACCEPTING THE OFFER becomes a choice leading to satisfactory result
- LESS RAMP-UP time as you’ve already given yourself access to internal resources and contacts… your are READY to be viewed as a “rock star” in your new position
- You are prepared to truly partner with your employer’s future success
- And, best-of-show? You are in a position to stay aware of next steps in your career for the rest of your working days of employment!
Here are some tips on becoming, and developing your position, as a valued partner…
Walk the talk. Nothing speaks louder than results…. From the recruitment perspective, the best indicator of one’s potential for success is one’s prior experience and results gained. A partner helps others within the organization achieve their goals. And results require actions, not just words. The better the results you get, the more likely you are to be invited on to ‘the team.’
Deep knowledge. You must have a true understanding of every aspect of the business, how all the moving parts work together, the obstacles ahead, and intimate knowledge of the competition in the marketplace. In other words, you’ve done your homework and understand your potential employer’s need. And you must be able to articulate your understanding to anyone involved in the decision-making process in a manner that demonstrates that you truly get it.
Two of the many ways of accomplishing this image are to…
- Keep a file of relevant articles to share with key decision-makers, take advantage of the approaches that email and social media have to offer… create and maintain top-of-mind awareness.
- Further, create a set of ‘white papers’ that express, from your knowledge and experience, your perspective on relevant issues to your Profession or industry of choice.
Listen well. Everyone loves to feel that they have been heard and understood. One attribute of leadership is being known as a good listener. And if you can reiterate and articulate what has been said, you will be valued as a partner in the decision-making process.
Remember, as a job seeker, NETWORKING is your way to share knowledge, ‘branding’ yourself as a valued resource. It is also your best source of confirming the subjective information you seek to supplement your research of factual information about a potential employer.
Big picture thinking. Having a strategic vision requires you to see all areas of the business, internal and external. This is a valuable trait well beyond the C-suite. If you only have a deep understanding of one area, you are more likely to be tactical in your decisions, rather than strategic. You must be able to foresee problems from the stakeholders’ perspective in order to offer the most highly valued and comprehensive solutions.
Tying all of this together, the best way to be treated like a valued partner is to act like one. The more you demonstrate your value, the more you will become recognized as the go-to person in the organization and you will be included and have a voice in the big strategic decisions.
Every step in the job search process is aimed at obtaining interviews. It is at that point, a potential hiring manager decides if you are right for the job, and, just as important, it is your time to evaluate whether the job is right for you.
Think of an interview as the natural extension, the successful result of your effective networking. Many networking conversations actually become screening interviews, where influential contacts are assessing your qualifications, skill sets and experience relative to an opportunity at hand. “Perfect practice” of the basics builds the confidence necessary to perform well in formal job interviews.
This topic represents what most people call ‘active job search, but, as you can learn, the HOW –TO is what creates your success in networking. It professes strategies and tactics that will generate more effective networking.
You’ll be the first to know when you’re ready for ‘wave 3’ of networking… which, simply put, is networking your way in to attractive opportunities.
Why is it that even though “networking” stacks the deck in the favor of a job seeker, there seems to be this 500# GORILLA that stands in the way?
Those who don’t fully understand the process, who use people for information and never build the relationship, or return the favor, give networking a bad name and lose credibility in the eyes of others. Networking is about building trust and respect, not tearing away at it!
Personal accountability, it seems, is something nearly everyone would like to have—and which many of us think we could benefit from working on. In active job search, it would help a job seeker in identifying and maintaining focus on appropriate tasks and activities that generate success. And from the more strategic career focus, it will create the confidence to be aware of, and act on, appropriate next steps along one’s career path.
The other end of the spectrum is becoming a “job search-aholic.” For many of us, our identity is tied up tightly in our career, while others need a job right away just to make ends meet. No matter how great the need or desire for a new position, conducting a job search 24/7 non-stop can actually be a detriment to a successful campaign.
Too many times, we fall victim to distractions from the job search. The trap of sleeping late, watching TV, and playing on the Web can ensnare us. With no one but ourselves to hold us accountable for our job-search goals and plans, time can just slip away. It’s so easy to lose balance between personal needs and wants and our job search.
Once burnout sets in and enthusiasm begins to wane, how can you be at your best when you interview or even network? The buddy system is an ideal way to protect against burnout while keeping on track!
As a NEW job-seeker, especially one that has enjoyed long tenure with a “good Company,” or succession of terrific jobs within a “cookin’ Industry, it is quite easy to be overwhelmed by the prospects of the jobsearch, or career transition, ahead. There’s all those swirling emotions to deal with, the changes in job search strategies, and, most challenging of all: replacing that comfortable, confident “vibe” that you’ve enjoyed in prior years of employment!
Find out about CareerDFW & CareerUSA.org and how to use it! 
Creating visibility for yourself through posted “white papers” or blogging can be very useful if you’re looking for work. On the LinkedIn platform, such ‘activity’ will contribute to your serach page rank. Blogging can give you that edge over other candidates…without taking any of the original fun out of it!
Embracing The OTHER Job Market
With the hiring authority, you have an opportunity to talk about what really matters, whatever NEED the job requisition was designed to alleviate, when you’re talking directly with the person who’s actually losing sleep over the budget shortfall or the customer exodus or whatever is rotten in Denmark.
So, how does a concept from the field of engineering get itself into the dysfunctional event called INTERVIEWING? Reverse engineering is a detailed examination of an idea or product with the aim of producing something similar. In fact, this method could also apply to the job interview because sometimes, in a job interview, the candidate does not properly understand the question the interviewer has asked, and therefore the answer, of course, would likely not be the best.
The most important element of the job interview is that the candidate clearly and fully understand each question if that candidate’s answers are to meet the interviewer’s expectations.
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