Hello everybody!!!! I
hope you are having as great of a week as I am.
Spring is in bloom here in Iowa
and it is really starting to get green here.
We are beginning to get some nice, hot, muggy days and lots of great
thunderstorms at night. On the home
front, things are progressing nicely as well.
Baby Kai is progressing towards only getting up once a night and Mom and
Dad are very appreciative. On another
note, I’m proud to say that I’m a new uncle once again. My brother and his wife recently welcomed
Blake Thompson into the world on May, 2nd! I’m pretty excited that Kai will have a
cousin that is almost exactly the same age.
Now on to the career stuff.
We are in a very unique job market right now. Companies are starting to hire again but not
at the level that we have been hoping for.
Unemployment is still fairly high and ultimately it is still a buyers market
where the employer has the advantage in the process. This presents some interesting challenges for
job seekers that most certainly can be overcome if they are handled
appropriately. However, if you want to
overcome them, as Ricky Ricardo once said “You got some ‘splainin to do!”
Below are some of the biggest challenges faced by job
seekers and how you can make a convincing case.
Let me know if you agree or if you think I left something off!
1. You are Overqualified
I’ll start out by saying that I hate this comment. Often times it is used as a brush off which
means that when it is actually the case it elicits a negative response from the
candidate. My take is that people are
never overqualified for a position – that’s a stupid argument – however, I do
believe that people can progress to a point in their career where they wouldn’t
be challenged or happy by doing certain duties even though they are perfectly
capable of doing so. Regardless, the
impetus is on you to sincerely sell an employer on the fact that you want to
take a step back in responsibility. The
key is that you have to WANT to do
so – you can’t just be willing to do so.
The other thing that is important in this area is that you
need to be careful what you share about yourself until you find out what the
company is looking for. I talk to many
people that lead off a conversation by telling me that they are a terrific
leader, that they like a big challenge, that they are motivated to grow and
succeed in their career. Then when they
find out that the position is lower level, doesn’t have management or leadership,
is transactional, etc – they tell me how they would accept something like that
too. Here’s the problem. Employers don’t want employees that look at their job or organization as
acceptable – it’s really pretty insulting.
You have to sell them on why this would be good for you and why it would
be good for them. Be excited.
2. Trying to Change
Industry or Position
I work with a lot of people that after finding that there
are not opportunities in their present field or position that decide to make a transition
to a different industry or position. I
don’t have an opinion either way about if this is a good move or a bad
move. I’ve seen successes and failures
for both. However, I can tell you that there seems to be a direct
relationship between the unemployment rate and employers open mindedness when
hiring someone. When there are less
people on the market employers are
generally less open to out of the box solutions – for some reason there
is this perception that it is more likely that the perfect
person with the perfect experience is out there waiting to be hired.
However, you can make this work. The solution is to look at your transferable
skills and sell them up. Think about the
objections that the employer will raise – overcome them before they ask
them. The key is that you need to have a
persuasive argument built up – you can’t just say – “I know I can do this.” –
My mom used to tell me that I was the cutest boy in the school and that
statement carries the same weight. There
is one other point to this that you need to know. There will be companies out there that will
not consider you – they just won’t.
Because of this you need to reach out to a higher number of places
knowing that if the normal positive response to your resume is 1 in 5 it will
more than likely be 1 in 10 or 20.
3. Convincing Someone You Will Take Less Money
I get this one – you need a job – you were making a
comfortable living and had money left over.
Now that you have a problem you can make it work with less income. Here’s the problem – companies have a
perception that if they hire someone for a significantly lower salary than
their previous job that the person will either continue to look or will be
generally unhappy. I’ll be honest –
there is probably some truth here in some cases. That said, I do believe that people are not
always motivated by money. If you truly
are willing to take a step back you need to do some convincing.
I’ve written extensively in the past about how to ask for
more money – essentially you have to build a case. The same goes for taking a step back. You have to tell them why - I’m OK with less money because…:
- I’m
going to work less hours
- I’m
saving a ton of money with my commute
- I’m
going to get to see my family more
- It’s
worth it to like my job and be happy
4. Relocation
This is another situation where companies have a
preconceived notion. For some reason
there is a belief that when the economy is bad, there are droves of people that
are willing to uproot their entire family, move to a foreign place and then
when things get better they will rush back home. It doesn’t work like this. However, I can tell you that things are generally less
likely to work out if the only reason you move somewhere is for a job and a job
only. In order to overcome this you need
to pro-offer why you want to live in a specific place. You can use things like:
- I’ve
visited there several times and it is my dream to live there
- We
have family in the area and want to get closer
- I’ve
got some friends in the area
- We are
tired of living in the big city – I’m looking to improve my lifestyle
Whatever you do – DO NOT use the following:
- I’ll
move anywhere – nobody likes a nomad
- I’m
really tired of the weather up here – many
are skeptical that you would sever your relationships with all of your
family and friends solely because of three months of snow.
5. Overcoming Employment Gaps
For some reason there is an inherent fear that having been
out of work for a long time or having spotty employment over the past couple of
years is a real detriment. To a degree
it can hurt you. However, this in itself does not make you broken as I
and many others refuse to believe that the 10% that have been unemployed (more
like 17% total) are somehow inherently unemployable. However, you still need to be able to talk
about in a way that makes you look good.
When you are asked about it you need to tell them the truth. I spent the better part of X years/months looking
for a new job. However, you can’t just
end there – make it a positive – turn it into some lemonade. Follow up by saying, “it was really difficult
but I did the best I could to make the most of my time. I got to spend more time with my kids, volunteer
at X. finish up all of my projects – It’s been great but I’m really excited to
get back to work for something great like this!”
Even if it is the truth here is what you can’t say:
- I
decided to take a break – even if
this is the case – turn it into a positive – I focused on this while
keeping an eye out for something like this
- I just
gave up
Last point here. Many
people took jobs outside of the industry to remain employed and often did
retail or other things that paid them drastically less. You should not hide this – most employers
will respect that you were willing to do whatever you could to get by. If this is the case you need to put it on
your resume but structure it so that your relevant experience is on top.
So! That’s my
thoughts on that. Let me know if you
agree or have any comments or suggestions.
As always you can email me at
sthompson@insurance-csg.com!
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