I landed my first corporate, aka “real”, job out of college in early 1985. The company, Moore Business Forms the largest printing-forms provider in the world, was just finishing a hiring push for sales and business development talent. Please read this article; I have a question I would like you to ask yourself at the end of the piece. Here are some facts about my job search.
State of Technology
In 1985 there was no Internet, no fax machines, no cell phones in regular usage, and at that time answering machines were just beginning to hit the commercial market–I did not own one at the time.
Training and Resources
In 1985 the cottage industry of coaching, life-business or other niches, did not exist. The word tutor was attached primarily to language learning or students still in school. For job seekers interested in resume writing help, you could hire a resume writing service, buy an instruction book, or go to the library for resources.
Instead of instantly finding your job search answers via an online search, I was forced to drive to my nearest library or book store (national bookstore chains not prevalent at the time) wasting time traveling to and from my resource in search of answers.
1985 Job Search Activities that helped me land my job:
1. Purchased resume writing book; wrote my own resume
2. Crafted custom cover letters per job
3. Joined my alumni association
4. Called my friends, family, and contacts to announce my job search
5. Visited my library and bookstore 3 times per week in search
6. Collected 5 References for hiring managers to call
7. Hired a “Headhunter” aka recruiter
8. Read two newspaper’s Want Ads sections everyday; career or job sections dedicated to job search did not exist
9. Visited the unemployment office job board once per week
10. Spammed my local Chamber of Commerce with my resume
My Results
I sent over 150 resumes in a 5 month period. I hired a headhunter who continuously sent me out to interviews that were less than ideal–round peg in a square hole theory on her part. I read the newspaper want ad sections. I finally identified Moore as the opportunity for me. I requested my headhunter arrange an interview which she secured. I nailed the interview and I was hired the same day; nearly 5 months after beginning the job search process.
The Revelation
After being offered the Moore job, my manager asked me “Dean why didn’t you just come in and ask for an interview? Why did you go through a headhunter-I would have hired you and been more impressed if you had come to us directly.” Now it sunk in for me. I just spent $1,800 (1985 money mind you) when all I had to do was deliver my value directly to the company and my manager.
Ask Yourself:
- Are the majority of your job search functions, steps, and marketing based on the same “stuff” I did 25 years ago?
- Is the major focus, and marketing efforts, of your job search based on your resume?
- Do you approach each day like you would when you go to a job; simply put, are you treating your job search like you would a job that an employer pays you to perform?
- Are you educating yourself each day in order to add to your skill sets?
- Do you have an organized and structured plan you are executing?
- Have you performed your research and due diligence on the companies you target?
- Do you have a list of the companies and managers?
- Do you understand how to measure your job search efforts
- Are you networking in the right places online and in the real world?
- Do you understand how to provide value instead of bringing the hard sell approach in your job search efforts?
8 Comments
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I think this is an excellent article, and when one takes the time to really read it and think about it you find that there is much more that can be done. I particularly like the last bullet, where I think I know that I’m bringing value, but perhaps it is coming across as a hard sell…
Hi George,
Thank you for the kind words of encouragement. Your feedback is valuable. In regards to the last bullet, I was referencing Jeffrey Gitomer’s idea that before you can receive you must give when networking.
Job Seekers have the opportunity to create a brand based on their expertise, experience, and accomplishments. The fantastic social media tools that are available have done 3 things for us today:
1. We now control our information, that information is valuable, and the mass media no longer has the ability to inhibit our efforts to move this value forward.
2. Social media tools like blogs, Linkedin, Twitter allow job seekers and entrepreneurs to create, communicated, and share this valuable information to the world.
3. Entrepreneurs and job seekers will be successful if they provide value first. The hard sell days are not meant for the blogosphere–hopefully they are behind us.
Thanks again for your contribution George!
Dean
Gosh, where have I heard this before? *wink* Glad it’s in print to pass along.
Wink back, Karen.
Thanks for the thought to pass the message along. We very much appreciate you.
Hi Dean/Susan,
Get this….back around the same time frame (Maybe more like 1988), I actually paid $40 for a list of recruiters to whom I then:
Wrote a “compelling” (I doubt it) cover letter
Wrote my own resume
spent .68 EACH to MAIL a complete package including both documents on special paper in a blue 2-pocket folder to all of the 60 or so recruiters on the list. Oh, and I had some business cards made up that fit into two little slots on one of the inside pockets of the folder.
about 12 of them came back to me as undeliverable
Now I know that $40 is nothing compared to your $1,800 but can you even imagine PAYING to find headhunters today????
I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE what technology and the internet provides us now. I cannot even comprehend going back to those days!
Thanks for the valuable retrospective on job search in the 80′s, it reminds me how powerful our tools are today. It also makes me wonder what this post would be like in another 10-15 years!!
Valerie
Valerie,
I can relate with your experience completely! We are so lucky to live in a time where we now have the opportunity, via technology, to become memorable in ways never thought possible.
It will be interesting to look back in 15yrs to see how far we have progressed. I hope we can laugh about this stuff. If we can not, it would mean that job search and job seekers had stopped innovating and looking for answers.
The resume “had” a 50+ year run. I am hoping the dawning of this new trend for social media in job search continues to improve our capabilities to connect.
Dean
Just copied and printed the “Ask Yourself” section of this article. I’m just starting my job search and this is an invaluable list of things I need to be doing to organize myself and make the most of my time. Thanks so much!!
Glad you found the list helpful, Gigi. Best of luck (and work!) in your job search.