How To Get The Job You Want
MIAMI (CBSMiami) - The job market has still not fully recovered from the Great Recession. It can feel like no one's hiring. So how do you get the job you want? Not through resumes and not through online listings, according to an award-winning career coach.
Beth Sinkus was raising a family and worked a high-powered job as a corporate vice president. Then out of nowhere, she was laid off.
"It was traumatic," said Sinkus. "Thinking about making the mortgage payment, saving in the event of an illness, it was frightening beyond belief."
"People make a mistake," said career coach Ford Myers of Career Potential, LLC. "They go out looking for job openings. They try to see where they're going to fit in. Bad idea."
Myers wrote 'Get the Job You Want Even When No One's Hiring.' He actually tells clients, don't look for a job right away. First envision your dream job.
It's important to write down your ideal day. Why?
"You've got to get crystal clear in your own mind about exactly what you want," said Myers.
That's what his client Sinkus did.
"It made me think about job responsibilities and what part of sales and management I love doing, versus what I didn't like doing," said Sinkus.
Also write down what Ford calls a "work proposal." Explain how you bring value.
"Almost position yourself more like a consultant than an applicant," said Myers. "Here's what I propose if I were to come and work for you."
And reach out to everyone you know. In his book, Myers says that networking is not as important as you think it is: "It's way more important!"
Beth gathered everyone she knew and built a spreadsheet, about 1,200 people.
"I must know somebody who knows somebody that works at a job at a company that I'm looking at," said Sinkus.
"You start with your inner circle," said Myers. "Then they know people. Then they know people, and it builds and builds and builds."
Beth said it was easier than she thought.
"People had little snippets of advice and ideas and things they had gone through, and it helped me realize, okay, I'm not alone," said Sinkus.
Don't be afraid to seek help. Practice your interview skills. Update your personal image: hair, clothes. Be early for interviews. Finally, be patient and persistent.
After three and a half months, Beth found a great job, a senior vice president of business development. She is even able to occasionally work from her home, finding both the career and the work-life balance she wanted.
"It's a position I would never have envisioned me doing this early in my career," said Sinkus. "Here I am, six weeks in."
