I love Labor Day, mainly because it marks the end of the summer with cooler weather on the way, all the kids are back in school, and football season is about to go into full swing. What I don’t like, and I am sure all those who continue to look for full-time work day after day don’t like either, is the reminder that Labor Day is technically for those who labor (that is labor in that stereotypical means created years ago by that industrial revelation we had), not those who labor looking for labor.
A Labor of Love
For all practical purposes, I have been looking for a full-time labor of love match since we sold our book business about three years ago (see How I Can Save Your Business Money from back in April, or the other articles at the bottom of this post). Although I have a great part time job, work more than full time at graduate school, and my days are busier now than they ever have been, looking for and finding a full-time position that matches both person and company has been one of the most difficult endeavors of my now 20+ year working life.
I have found more jobs and “careers” than I knew existed and made more connections with my resume than I can count. [On a side note, if you are a single college student in or around the Auburn area, there is a company looking for OSHA "inspectors" to work on barges in the Gulf of Mexico, no experience needed, pay is great, 21 days on 21 days off, and you get to fly to work.]
It is the Economy Stupid
After a while you just scratch your head in amazement at this current marketplace. Resumes and 3-piece suits are not what they use to be 20 years ago (thank goodness), but the lack of practical sense in some HR departments is almost comical, and expectations some business owners have is borderline ridiculous. Just for means of example, I give you one from this past week:
I had a company contact me from my blog asking if I would be interesting in writing articles for their website? Why sure, sounds great. I only have about 10-15 years experience writing well researched, SEO packed, properly formatted content, including about 1,000 articles on this blog alone, sounds great. His email to me then gave me a list of things he wanted me to do, including writing two articles for him so he could get an idea of my writing style, then after that, if they were interested, they would be happy to pay me $.007/word for 200-400 word articles? Yeah, that was a whopping $1.40-$2.80 per article. Probably cost me more to power my computer for that length of time than they would pay me. I get those all the time, and never reply to them, but someone out there does I’m sure.
Labor Day for All Labor
So today, at least in my mind, we can take some rest from those things which we do to sustain life. Enjoy what is probably a beautiful day outside since the calendar reads September, and be thankful for the work we are given to do.
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Some of you may or may not know that I have been looking for a good job match in a full time IT related field for about 3-4 years now (yes I said years). So far, it has been one of the most frustrating ongoing experiences I have had in business. I have been denied a lowly $7-9/hour job to work out of my home office because I had too much experience, and have turned down a $60,000 job because it wasn’t a good match between my personality and their culture. There is nothing easy about finding a good career match any more, and I have a lot to offer a company. Almost 20 years of business experience, education, flexibility, a low required salary, and a willingness to travel. See also my post Top 5 Tips to Help Your Job Search.
How I Can Save Your Business Money
What is astonishing to me, is how many potential employers will not look at the possibility of having a professional (and I mean that in every sense of the word) work out of their home office when the typical IT job really doesn’t require a physical presence in an office, or anywhere for that matter. I understand some do, and that’s fine, but not all by any stretch.
It’s simple math. If I can be hired to do a job in a middle-income American city for $50,000, which requires me to move, I can do the exact same job from my home office for $40,000. That’s $10,000 a year in payroll expenses your company doesn’t have to pay. Computer equipment they don’t have to buy, phones, office space, parking, gas, and food that doesn’t have to be purchased. If your company has a tight budget and really needs to control expenses, why ignore this potential savings?
My Office is Better Equipped Than Most Office Buildings
How old is your office equipment? What tools are you missing to get your job done in an effective and efficient manner?
I have 4 different phone lines/numbers I can use including a landline, cellular, and VoIP. A network of 5-6 computers (PC and MAC), laptops, desktops, mobiles devices, a reliable 6M high speed DSL line, 10 TB of data storage (yes Tera), data backups, and my office is even wired for a 20KW backup generator in case of power failure with 250 gallons of propane on site. I am probably better equipped and better prepared than the standard office building in middle America.
With that said, I have no problem going out of city or state for the right position, it will just cost everyone more money.
What Comes Around (To Get Down, Timo Maas)
This week I had a few different conversations with potential employers, some very promising. One of these companies was so unique in the way they required applicants to submit information I decided to go the extra mile and respond to their creativeness with creativity by making a portfolio video. Videos like this are nothing new but I made it specifically for them for an added personal touch.
Below is the video, (with the names removed to protect the innocent of course), but if you are one of those out there looking for a job, don’t just do the exact same thing that all the other applicants do, that accomplishes nothing but allowing yourself to blend in. Be creative, stand out, showcase your skills. Not all employers will appreciate this approach for sure, but a company looking for a Linchpin instead of a door knob will.
See the full size version of The Portfolio Project here.
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In my ongoing pursuit of the perfect full time employer I have compiled more information than I could possibly have imagined a few years ago. I could probably write an HR book called HR, the Good the Bad, the Ugly but I am sure someone else has beat me to it. After writing a post about a recent interview I decided to put down a few quick tips I learned just in case someone else out there is also looking for that perfect match.
The Match-Making Job Market of 2010 Is Fluid
Today is a different market than even just five years ago. Potential employers are doing more with less, and are in no hurry to bring on a new hire that may or may not be an exact match with the company’s existing culture. As a potential employee, I am also just as picky when it comes to looking at a potential employer. I don’t just want any job, I want a good match, but in 2010 it’s more like online dating or match-making than job hunting. Don’t just automatically jump on the first offer, really look at what kind of match you are with the company culture, business model, and their clients.
Flooding the Market with Resumes Doesn’t Work, Be Creative
I have sent in hundreds of resumes, made countless followup calls, gone out of my way to not be in the way when needed, met tons of new people, offered to move to all over California (my native land), Texas, Florida (wife’s preference), New York, Wisconsin, Montana (those two were a stretch), Georgia, Virginia, and Kentucky. Yet, it’s the end of another week of meeting new people, making new connections, learning new companies, and waiting. One thing I have learned, flooding the market with resumes doesn’t work.
If you want to be seen, you need to do something creative and unique. Don’t just do the same old thing that everyone else does, that doesn’t do any good at all. Find a unique way to stand out to the HR person or hiring manager. For an example of what I did this week see this video I did for How I Can Save Your Business Money.
Become a Major League Scout in Your Search
You need to seek out new prospects like a scout looks at potential minor league players. Traditional job sites like Monster have been almost worthless to me. Today, employers will post on Facebook, Twitter, blogs, craigslist, and on their own websites. Where are the creative companies posting their new positions? Don’t limit yourself to finding a great job by only looking on the traditional websites.
Do Your Own Research, Don’t Just Skim the Surface
When you do get an Interview, phone or otherwise, do you know more about the company than the HR person? Impossible? Not at all, and many times I have known far more about the details of a company than even their own employees do. Do your own research, and dig deep. A good example is to look at the company on LinkedIn. Look at their current employees on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook (are they happy with their job), their former employees (why did they leave, where are they now), and all the associated websites you can find.
Keep in mind your potential employer is doing the same research on you. Don’t give them a stupid reason like a photo on Facebook to hire someone else.
Don’t Try To Hide, Control Your Internet Footprint
If you are on Facebook and you hide your account from a potential employer they will probably wonder what you are trying to hide, and if there is good reason, perhaps fixing that first would be a good idea. I have created a one stop shop on Google where potential employers could find out every thing there is to know about me (http://www.scottfillmer.me), professionally and personally, and from there they can find their website of choice without having to give them 10 different places to look. You can still be publically seen and control your private information, just use common sense.
What are your favorite job search tips?
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Another beautiful day down here in the south. This is such a great time of year in this part of the country, but we all know it will be short lived. Hot scorching days are just ahead. Today was one of those days I didn’t have to go anywhere at all and was able to get some work done here in my office.
Welcome Video and Some Time Lapse
First thing I did this morning was finish up my welcome video for my blog pages. I had been putting this off for some time and finally got it done. Instead of me rambling on, after watching this from another blogger it game me the idea to use it in my video. I put this video together yesterday and finished it up today. The refresh rate on the parts where I am talking are not as good as I would have liked, but I think it worked out ok, let me know what you think in the comments below. This is the only time I am going to actually put this video in a blog post, but since this blog post is my “daily post”, this is part of what I did today.
That was pretty much my first try at time lapse but once I saw found out how to do it I was a little enamored by the whole thing. You can really find out a little more about yourself by watching some of these videos. First thing Deborah said was she didn’t realize that I was actually so left hand dominant, me neither.
Scott Fillmer Resume Endorsement Video from Scott Fillmer on Vimeo
Everything Else
I did manage to get in my 4 miles of walking today and a long day of general work. No wildlife today other than or normal neighborhood of squirrels. Something neat I found today blogging wise was this new application that will allow you to use video comments, called seesmic. You can see their latest post here, Thwirl with Friendfeed released, you can also sign up for their alpha test at seesmic.com. I am going to try their wordpress plugin and see how it goes.
Update: I ended up removing my time lapse from YouTube and haven’t been able to get it replaced yet, but I replaced it with the video above.
