Simply Hired Blog

Job Search Gone Mobile!

Don't you just hate standing in line? Waiting for the bus or train for what seems like an eternity? You can be productive on the go, and take your job search with you!

We're excited to announce a new and improved mobile job search site at m.simplyhired.com! Now you can stay up-to-date with your Simply Hired job search, from just about anywhere: while basking in the sun in your backyard, waiting for the kids to finish school, sitting on the couch as your significant other drones on about the theory of relativity … (Zzzz…. Oh! Okay, we're back.)

It's as simple to use as our website – just visit m.simplyhired.com from your mobile device, enter your keywords (what you're looking for) and your location (where you want to work) and click the Search Jobs button to see all jobs that match your search.

Take your job search on the go!

The Excellent Thank-You Letter

By Marty Nemko

Everyone knows that after a job interview, you’re supposed to write a thank-you letter. But just saying thank you will not put you ahead of the pack.

Here's an ahead-of-the-pack thank-you letter. A more accurate term for it is influencing letter:

Dear [insert name(s),]

Thank you for the professional yet pleasant interview. I especially appreciated your sharing some of the company's challenges.

I've done a little thinking about your dissatisfaction with your customer service operation in India. Of course, you may have already considered and rejected the idea but I'm wondering if this might help: Have your best American customer service rep make a recording of him/herself handling the types of calls the Indians find problematic. Then, send that mp3 to the offshoring company’s manager in charge of training your Indian customer service reps. Just a thought.

I've also had a chance to reflect on your question about sourcing (a question you flubbed in the interview.) Might it make sense to source the raw metals from Africa and, for assembly, ship it to Vietnam or Thailand (often lower cost even than China)?

In any event, I'd welcome the opportunity to meet again with you and/or to draft a brief white paper describing my approach to operations management.

Again, I appreciated the good interview and while I do have other irons in the fire, I hope to continue our discussions.

Sincerely,

Jane Jobseeker

U.S. News & World Report called Marty Nemko, "career coach extraordinaire." The San Francisco Bay Guardian named him "The Bay Area's Best Career Coach." In his 26th year in private practice, he's coached 3,700 people and enjoys a 96% client satisfaction rate. He holds a Ph.D from U.C. Berkeley and subsequently taught in its graduate school. 600+ of his published articles plus an active blog are free on www.martynemko.com.

Finding a New Job As If Your Life Depended on It: Part Four - Reach Out to Everyone You Know

By Andrew Neitlich

The previous three blog entries presented the first three in a four-step process for finding a new job. The first entry challenged you to pretend that your life – and the lives of those dearest to you – depended on finding a new job. Literally. The goal was to get you into the mindset you would have if this really happened to you.

Step two showed you how to create messages that communicate your value in ways that an employer would take notice.

Step three showed you why it makes sense to think like a self-employed consultant, and how to do it.

Now you are ready for the fourth and final step...

Step Four: Reach out to every single person you know, have known, and should know – full-time – in ways that communicate your value. Now you are ready to go. Every day, 12 hours a day, you need to be reaching out to everyone you know and have known. If you have to swallow your pride to reconnect with someone with whom you haven’t spoken in 20 years, do it. Get in touch with your college roommates, high school buddies, professors, parents’ friends, cousins, nephews, aunts and uncles, people in your apartment complex, fellow church members, members of your fitness club, volunteers with whom you work, past bosses (no matter how petty or crummy), past colleagues – anyone who might know someone who can make an introduction.

Then, come up with a list of the movers and shakers in your industry and function. These are the people who make things happen, who run companies, finance companies, recruit talent for companies, sell products and services to companies, and run associations for these companies. Ask them for coffee. Then ask them who they know and what they would do if they had your talents and skills and were looking for an opportunity. Successful people want to help people succeed – especially if those people can communicate their value.

Don’t be afraid. The only risk is if you DON’T call them!

The fact of the matter is that your life really does depend on getting that next job. The advice in this series might seem contrived to fit an unlikely scenario. But if you adopt the mindset that your life depends on taking the actions required to get the next job, you increase the odds of success by a long shot. Don’t you think that the people dearest to you would expect nothing less?

Andrew Neitlich is the co-author, with Jay Conrad Levinson, of Guerrilla Marketing for a Bulletproof Career, a book that reveals the secrets to career success in perpetually gut-wrenching times. For more information, and for additional articles, visit www.bulletproofcareer.com. He also runs the Center for Career Coaching, which trains career coaches.

By Andrew Neitlich

The previous two blog entries presented the first two in a four-step process for finding a new job. The first entry challenged you to pretend that your life – and the lives of those dearest to you – depended on finding a new job. Literally. The goal was to get you into the mindset you would have if this really happened to you.

Step two showed you how to create messages that communicate your value in ways that an employer would take notice.

Now you are ready for step three...

Step Three: Think like a consultant. Consultants make marketing their top priority. They are very effective at three types of marketing in particular, and you need to become experts here, too. The first is in getting referrals. They are pros when it comes to telling people about the value they provide, and then educating them about the types of people they want to meet. They also know how to help other people, by making introductions for them and helping them in other ways to advance their careers. You need to be willing to tell everyone you know about the value you provide, and then explicitly ask people who they know who might be looking for that value. Don’t be shy; your life depends on making direct requests!

Second, consultants get visible by establishing themselves as experts. They write articles, speak, set up blogs, post videos of them speaking, get active in their industry associations, start online groups, and even do simple research projects. All of these things establish their credibility and prove that they are thinking about, and can solve, the most pressing problems the people in their target market face. I don’t care if you are at the lowest level of a company. You can still do some sort of educational marketing to establish yourself as an expert in your field.

Third, consultants are early adopters of social media. They know every feature of LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, BlogTalkRadio, YouTube, and question and answer sites – and they know how to use these technologies to meet new people and get introductions. I don’t care if you think you are too old! Your life depends on learning these technologies.

Interestingly, if you take this exercise seriously, you might even end up getting consulting offers, which could launch your career in a very different, exciting direction. Personally, I prefer being a consultant than an employee. As a consultant, I have dozens of clients; if I lose one, I only lose a small portion of my income. Plus, as a consultant I am constantly marketing, and so landing a new opportunity is not such a huge deal. For the purposes of this exercise, you are seeking a full-time job offer. However, in the real world, be flexible and agile, ready to turn someone’s interest in you into any form of assignment you can get!

Once you have the right mindset, messages that communicate your value, and you are thinking like a consultant, you are ready for the fourth and final step, coming next...

Andrew Neitlich is the co-author, with Jay Conrad Levinson, of Guerrilla Marketing for a Bulletproof Career, a book that reveals the secrets to career success in perpetually gut-wrenching times. For more information, and for additional articles, visit www.bulletproofcareer.com. He also runs the Center for Career Coaching, which trains career coaches.

By Andrew Neitlich

The previous blog entry presented the first in a four-step process for finding a new job. It challenged you to pretend that your life – and the lives of those dearest to you – depended on finding a new job. It asked you to pretend that you get an anonymous call on your cell phone. The person on the other end gives you very scary news. They are holding hostage the person in your life that you hold most dear. You have exactly 30 days to find a new job, or you will never see this person again. At the same time, if you fail, they will come and get you next. Then they hang up.

Step one was to get into the mindset you would have if this really happened to you. Now you are ready for step two….

Step Two: Create messages that communicate your value. Lives are at stake, but you can’t just scramble around looking for a new job. You have to be efficient. You need a strong foundation before you can take action. You have to know how to communicate your value to others so that they notice you, and think of you first when they have a need.

Most people have no idea how to communicate their value to other people. Specifically, they can’t justify how they can bring value equal to two, three, five, even ten times their salary and benefits back to a company.

Once again, you are different. You can tell people precisely how you help them, and the benefits they get by hiring you. How can you help increase sales? Decrease costs? Improve customer relationships and create raving, loyal fans? Bring new products to market more quickly and successfully? Save your boss time and hassle, so that he can focus on advancing his own career?

Once you figure out how you add value, you need to be able to explain your unique edge. Why you? What sets you apart compared to everyone else looking?

Finally, you need to prove that your claims are true, with past achievements, references, and case studies about your results.

If you can do this, you have a good chance of seeing your loved one again. If you can’t, you need to finesse your story as best you can because, again, your life depends on it.

Once you have your messages in place, you can move to Step Three, coming next.

Andrew Neitlich is the co-author, with Jay Conrad Levinson, of Guerrilla Marketing for a Bulletproof Career, a book that reveals the secrets to career success in perpetually gut-wrenching times. For more information, and for additional articles, visit www.bulletproofcareer.com. He also runs the Center for Career Coaching, which trains career coaches.

Finding a New Job As If Your Life Depended on It: Part Three - Think Like a Consultant

By Andrew Neitlich

The previous two blog entries presented the first two in a four-step process for finding a new job. The first entry challenged you to pretend that your life – and the lives of those dearest to you – depended on finding a new job. Literally. The goal was to get you into the mindset you would have if this really happened to you.

Step two showed you how to create messages that communicate your value in ways that an employer would take notice.

Now you are ready for step three...

Step Three: Think like a consultant. Consultants make marketing their top priority. They are very effective at three types of marketing in particular, and you need to become experts here, too. The first is in getting referrals. They are pros when it comes to telling people about the value they provide, and then educating them about the types of people they want to meet. They also know how to help other people, by making introductions for them and helping them in other ways to advance their careers. You need to be willing to tell everyone you know about the value you provide, and then explicitly ask people who they know who might be looking for that value. Don’t be shy; your life depends on making direct requests!

Second, consultants get visible by establishing themselves as experts. They write articles, speak, set up blogs, post videos of them speaking, get active in their industry associations, start online groups, and even do simple research projects. All of these things establish their credibility and prove that they are thinking about, and can solve, the most pressing problems the people in their target market face. I don’t care if you are at the lowest level of a company. You can still do some sort of educational marketing to establish yourself as an expert in your field.

Third, consultants are early adopters of social media. They know every feature of LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, BlogTalkRadio, YouTube, and question and answer sites – and they know how to use these technologies to meet new people and get introductions. I don’t care if you think you are too old! Your life depends on learning these technologies.

Interestingly, if you take this exercise seriously, you might even end up getting consulting offers, which could launch your career in a very different, exciting direction. Personally, I prefer being a consultant than an employee. As a consultant, I have dozens of clients; if I lose one, I only lose a small portion of my income. Plus, as a consultant I am constantly marketing, and so landing a new opportunity is not such a huge deal. For the purposes of this exercise, you are seeking a full-time job offer. However, in the real world, be flexible and agile, ready to turn someone’s interest in you into any form of assignment you can get!

Once you have the right mindset, messages that communicate your value, and you are thinking like a consultant, you are ready for the fourth and final step, coming next...

Andrew Neitlich is the co-author, with Jay Conrad Levinson, of Guerrilla Marketing for a Bulletproof Career, a book that reveals the secrets to career success in perpetually gut-wrenching times. For more information, and for additional articles, visit www.bulletproofcareer.com. He also runs the Center for Career Coaching, which trains career coaches.

Finding a New Job As If Your Life Depended on It: Part Two - Communicate Your Value

By Andrew Neitlich

The previous blog entry presented the first in a four-step process for finding a new job. It challenged you to pretend that your life – and the lives of those dearest to you – depended on finding a new job. It asked you to pretend that you get an anonymous call on your cell phone. The person on the other end gives you very scary news. They are holding hostage the person in your life that you hold most dear. You have exactly 30 days to find a new job, or you will never see this person again. At the same time, if you fail, they will come and get you next. Then they hang up.

Step one was to get into the mindset you would have if this really happened to you. Now you are ready for step two….

Step Two: Create messages that communicate your value. Lives are at stake, but you can’t just scramble around looking for a new job. You have to be efficient. You need a strong foundation before you can take action. You have to know how to communicate your value to others so that they notice you, and think of you first when they have a need.

Most people have no idea how to communicate their value to other people. Specifically, they can’t justify how they can bring value equal to two, three, five, even ten times their salary and benefits back to a company.

Once again, you are different. You can tell people precisely how you help them, and the benefits they get by hiring you. How can you help increase sales? Decrease costs? Improve customer relationships and create raving, loyal fans? Bring new products to market more quickly and successfully? Save your boss time and hassle, so that he can focus on advancing his own career?

Once you figure out how you add value, you need to be able to explain your unique edge. Why you? What sets you apart compared to everyone else looking?

Finally, you need to prove that your claims are true, with past achievements, references, and case studies about your results.

If you can do this, you have a good chance of seeing your loved one again. If you can’t, you need to finesse your story as best you can because, again, your life depends on it.

Once you have your messages in place, you can move to Step Three, coming next.

Andrew Neitlich is the co-author, with Jay Conrad Levinson, of Guerrilla Marketing for a Bulletproof Career, a book that reveals the secrets to career success in perpetually gut-wrenching times. For more information, and for additional articles, visit www.bulletproofcareer.com. He also runs the Center for Career Coaching, which trains career coaches.