This feels like being handed a pile of poo, calling it a road apple and trying really hard to convince you it is a real apple.  This is marketing, PR and branding gone so bad the powers that be have actually convinced themselves their ‘stuff’ smells of roses.

(This is the second post in a six part series. The first three cover deadly common myths on job hunting.  The last three posts give tips on how to increase your job hunting success by 2-3 times in half the time of most job seekers.)

The Attention Slight of Hand Trick

or Myth 2: If I do what I’m told I’ll get a job.

Most people assume applying for work will be easy because everybody does it.  Each company gives instructions on how to ‘correctly’ communicate with decision makers. The faulty follow-up logic of job hunters there is something wrong with them when no body replies.  ”I did what was asked, but nothing happened.”

Will you believe me when I say there is a conspiracy against you?

Most company’s rules for applying for jobs are to filter you out. If you follow ONLY the given instructions you will be over looked.  This truth baffles and hurts nice strict rule following people.  They follow The Hand as told to, yet are greatly confused when it opens empty . Why would anybody give rules to prevent the best working with them?

If you had 1000 people applying each week for one position and only you were responsible for finding the right person, you would do the same.  This is reality for most HR departments. A very friendly HR staff person from Monsanto explained it this way.  ”I have about 8-10 seconds to look at a resume, after they are filtered to the top by key word relevance.  I want to take more time, but I simply can not. I’m required to look at all the resumes.  5-6 years ago I could spend 30 seconds to a minute per resume.  An employee referral determines what resume to focus on.”

You must do more than the required basics to stand out.  Listen closely. You could be the perfect match and the best candidate.  You will be overlooked unless you systematically learn to work both inside and outside the given rules.

There are fantastic sources on the interwebs on the extra credit you should do.  Search for them.   Rather than rehash what many experts say, in the next post series you will learn something very few career experts know.  It is not “what” you do that is important.  It is “how” you do the extra credit that will prevent you from burn out and bring success faster.

Right now understand this.  Following rules inside the family gave you what you wanted.  It was beneficial to you and your employer.  They could count on you producing work that fit in their model. Your reward was a steady paycheck. Family takes care of its members (most of the time)

Now you are outside the family.  You must learn to do Rules Plus and show you will make a good addition to the family.  Do as asked AND do extra credit.  The highest leverage extra activities are social networking, professional networking, deeper-self discovery and community service.  (Comment below if you want examples of how these benefit your job search)..

In a later post I will give specific  instructions on how to do Rules Plus to increase your productivity by 3 to 5 times.  If you don’t follow these simply steps will you likely become frustrated and become discourage.

Next Post:  Quality wins, not quantity; brute force burns out.

(Previous Post: Tip 1: Give yourself  break.)

Image: digitalart / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

(This is the first post in a six part series. The first three cover deadly common myths on job hunting.  The final three posts give tips on how to increase your job hunting success by 2-3 times in half the time of most job seekers.)

Looking for work is tiring and mind numbing work. Many job seekers express frustrations over the process of hunting down anything close to a fit. In their mind they made many more, sometimes riskier, decisions at their job without the same level of fatigue. It is confusing why a seemingly simpler process taxes them so much.

Applying for work is deceptively more complicated than its outward appearance. It also requires a higher level of willpower. The effect is a hidden double-whammy on confidence and progress. You can win the battle by simply knowing why job hunting is more complicated and requires more willpower. In this series of posts I’ll explain 3 reasons looking for work now is unlike anything you have done before. In the follow-up series post I’ll give 3 tips to keep your attitude and productivity high.

Tip 1: Give yourself a break; it’s harder than it looks

Or Myth 1: “I know how to look for work”

The difficulties of knowing where to look and deciding valid posts are obvious. Hidden behind the known is a false self-belief you can ‘just do it’ with a git-r-dun attitude. Comparing your effectiveness and competence of your profession with job hunting is ludicrous. You might as well ask a marathon runner to ride in the Tour-de-France. Both have great endurance, but the type of conditioning and ‘knowledge’ is drastically different.

One executive level client described his frustration this way. “I put in 60-70 hours a week in my last position. Sometimes I was tired, but I did not feel emotionally drained. Now when I look for work for even 20 hours I become very discouraged and want to quit life.”

There are 3 fundamental reasons many successful people feel the same. The required skills are different from what you have developed. In the follow post series I’ll cover one strategy to overcome discouragement. Right now take a big sigh of relief. Know the problem is not you. Better said, you are not washed up because you can not just do it. You have to learn new skills.  Don’t self-sabotage yourself with faulty thinking you already know what to do and can work at same level of production.

(Next Post: The Attention Slight of Hand Trick: Don’t follow the Rules)

First you have to answer four quick questions correctly to qualify.  I’ll even give you the answers.

Q:  If you want to become strong what do focus on?
A: Becoming stronger.

Q: If you want to put more rocks in your pocket what do you focus on?
A: Putting more rocks in your pocket

Q: If you want to build better relationships what do you focus on?
A: Building better relationships.

Here comes the trick question.

Q: If you want to make more money what do you focus on?
A: Having unique value.

Did you want to say “making more money”, even though you knew it was a trick question?  The answer is not natural for humans to come up with.   Making money is counter-intuitive to human logic.  Making money is counter-intuitive to almost everything else we do.

In general if you focus on what you want you will get it.   Money does not work in the same way.  It does not really ‘exist’.    There is nothing to focus on to make more of.   This is the most difficult point to prove to you.

The dollar in your hand is stored value, nothing more.  It is potential energy ready to be exchanged.  You can not focus on making more money any more than making more energy.  That is the second law of thermodynamics.  You can not create or destroy energy.  But you can exchange it.

You have to find something to exchange you have more of than most people.

What are you exchanging for money?  Most focus on the wrong thing, time.  The trouble is time is limited.  At best a person has 70 years to live.  Those aren’t even working years.

Add in everybody has the same 70ish years.  Now you are like everybody else.  Congratulations you are in same category as corn, cows, soybean and pork bellies. You are a commodity.  Did you know there are commodity markets for doctors, programmers and politicians?  (Insurance, elance.com, too obvious)

I’ll tell you what is very sad about commodities. Somebody else sets the exchange rate.  When most people talk about ‘making more money’, they are saying “I’m going to exchange a resource that is very limited to me but is everywhere for a rate I have no control over.”  That does not sound like unique value

A product or service creates unique value when it is rare or makes the life of the user easier.  I’ll repeat that last part. Value comes when a product or service makes the life of the user easier. It is easier than you think.

I will now perform commodity magic right before your eyes.  Watch as I turn an ordinary commodity into a highly paid for product.  Watch carefully or you will miss it.

Did you see that?  I turned a $1 head of romaine lettuce into a $3.99 time saving product. I’m amazing!  Now somebody does not have to have a knife to have chopped lettuce right now.  Truly a boon for the chopping impaired.  Here is the crazy part.  The most expensive parts are thrown away or happened when you were not looking.

The value is in packaging and washing and cutting up the lettuce.  It did not cost $2.99 for the bag or labor to handle the lettuce.  Crap that is approx $35 an hour for 5 minutes of work, if the bag is a nickel.  ROI comes in at about 275%.  Nice investment.

The words on the bag are the biggest value.  They tell you what you are getting, just in case you are confused or mistook it for a head of lettuce.  It is not just romaine lettuce.  That is garden fresh chopped romaine lettuce.

Our jobs are no different.  Each of us can perform a specialization which will save our company or clients time, money, resources if they knew about it.  They don’t know about it because you have not told them.  You have not told them because you probably don’t know.   Maybe you already are doing the specialization.  You could be chopped garden fresh lettuce acting like a whole head lettuce.  What a shame!

You need a bag to put yourself in and tell the world how great you are.  What is your bag and the label on it?  Look around your work place.  What do you do better than most people? Does your boss know about it?  What  need is nobody fulfilling?

There is no reason to work more hours to increase your income.  Everybody I have coached was under evaluating their worth.  Employers want to be ‘sold’ your value.  By asking for a raise and explaining how you life easier you are telling them you are interested in their success.  This is the magic packaging.   A fifty cent raise is over $1000 in a year.  What are you doing each hour that is at least $1.50 in unnoticed productivity. (You can easily ask for 1/3 of the value you bring.)

Tell me I’m wrong if you don’t believe me.  You can do it in the comment box.  Would it be helpful to have examples?  Anybody want me to draw out their hidden unique value for free?   I’ll give 30 minutes of free coaching to prove my point.  Only one condition if we are successful I will post your success. If I fail I will post my failure.

It is a poverty mindset. Some short-sighted business exec said “The only way we can make more money later is by making something crappy now. This will guarantee we have repeat customers to come back and buy more.”

Problem is it doesn’t make repeat customers. It creates a pissed off pool of people wanting to spend their resources somewhere else.

Planned obsolescence does not secure markets.
It creates market opportunities , in a bad way.

Pissed customers, nothing sold, no payday. (Exception CEO).
Competition comes in to pick up the unspent resources.

Mr. Short Sight CEO perceives the leaving customers as the competition muscling in on his territory. A battle plan to undersell the competition to win back customers is typically formed. Problem is nobody can steal loyal customers. You can only give them a reason to leave on their own free will.

What I really don’t like about planned obsolescence is it is a virus which infects the soul of every member of the company. Companies who have a planned obsolete mindset typical treat employees as products with a short lifespan. Use them until they are of no use. Then they fire them, have massive layoffs, shut down plants and outsource.

Where as customers sees the truth the product is worthless, employees believe the lie they are worthless.

Employees believe the lie because they help create the product. If what they created is unwanted, then the skills they used must be useless and therefore the individual is obsolete.

It is a lie.

Nobody can plan your obsolescence for you. Customers can not be stolen. Employees can not be un-valued. It is always a personal choice.

Want proof? Remember bad products create new market opportunities. Who do you think is best qualified to take advantage of those opportunities? You, the pissed off customers and laid-off employees, that’s who. You have the combined skills and knowledge to know what needs to be made and how (sometimes how not) to do it.  We need more than C level execs and MBA grads to catch the wave of the future.  Dock workers, janitors and lunch ladies are needed too.  Widgets are not made in the board room.  Repeat customers are won over on the factory floor.

Factory floors are smaller now.  They look like a kitchen table. It makes a good board room table too.

“But I don’t have CAD skills.” Now you do. -> http://www.cad-sourcing.com
“But I don’t have a proto type.” Now you do. -> http://www.protomold.com
“But I don’t have …” Now you do. -> search.internet.world

Your past can be a mantra of excellence and know-how to not repeat foolish errors.  (Use this in an interview.  Employers are tired of hearing “I’m a hard worker”.)  Or your past can be your shame to obsolescence.   Only you can choose.

I didn’t say it was going to be easy. I’m just proving you have value. You get to say when your time is up.

Are you believing the lie and wishing for the glory days behind, or seeing the truth and the opportunity ahead?

Wizzdumbers tell you to prove you have overcome it and it is no longer a problem. Or to cast it in such a light it is a positive thing. For example “I’m too much of a perfectionist” Wizzdumbers will tell you there is weakness in admitting you are not perfect, or that it will be the kiss of death in an interview if you do.

Wizzdumbers smell of BS and insecurity.   HR is really good at smelling BS.  They smell it all day long.   They won’t tell you smell like it.   Instead they will say, “Thanks.. we will call you when we know more.”

Consider this..

Everybody has parts of their job where they were less than stellar. Nobody is blessed with the perfect job, where you always get to do:

What you want to do…
When you want to do it…
With the people you want to do it with.

That is life. We all have areas we fail at when compared to the co-workers who hold a similar position.

Your co-workers knew it. Your boss knew it. You know it.  Yet you were still paid.

You are still paid because you do other parts exceptionally well. You do them better than your co-workers.

Your co-workers know it. Your boss knows it. But you may not know it.

Typically for each weakness you have at work, there is an opposite strength. You hate doing that task/thing/responsibility because you are not able to work in your natural strength.   Take a moment and consider what you did best. Then contrast how doing that thing you hate prevented you from doing the thing you are exceptional at.

Here is my unorthodox advice to you. Flaunt your weaknesses. Let the world know what you are not good at. Then tell it what you are good at because of your ‘weakness’. Show them if you became less weak, you also become less strong. Then see which one they want more of. Do they want your strength, or less of your weakness? If they want less of your weakness then the job probably is not a good fit. You can walk away with your head held high.

If they like your strength, work out a plan to manage your weakness. The value of your strength will outweigh the cost of managing your weakness. Once again you will be paid for being ‘weak’. You won’t smell like BS either.

Just say no to wizzdumb.

(Where have you found wizzdumb in your job search?  Post a response below and start a conversation)

The other polar view is leadership is a responsibility to develop. You already have it, but it has to be made out of you.

Recent biological research by Richard Arvey head of management and organization at the business school of the National University of Singapore says it is true men are not biologically born leaders. Richard and his band of scientist have sought out on a quest to see what effect genetics have in job preference, job satisfaction, income deviation, chance to become an entrepreneur and leadership potential. While many traits (which I argue are those so called ‘talents’) can be genetically linked, leadership and business success can not. Here quoted from an article in the Ecnomist.com “’In men, this trait is instilled environmentally.’” Even more interesting leadership potential is least for boys raised “in rich, supportive families and strongest in those raised in harsher circumstances.”

Sounds like somebody is saying closely coddled boys make whiney playmates, and all men learn through experience and modeling how to use their innate strength to be leaders in the world, in their world.

What about women… it seems there is a biological link to leadership. (Read the article to find out why.)

For you men wondering “Do I have what it takes to be a leader in my life?”, the answer is a biological yes. You are no more or less biologically predisposed as Churchhill, O’Bama or the cool dad down the street. Here I take a leap away from the article and insert my own social comment. Unfortunately our society is not equipped to make it happen easily for you. Continue to seek out other men you can personally interact with and be firm in your quest to do so. The quest in its self will help bring the man out of you.

Next time somebody says ‘Where are all the good strong men?” You can reply. All around you, what are you doing to bring them out?

I had a client Josh, who was a nice guy. Everybody thought Josh should be able to get a job because he is a really nice guy. He has such a wide variety of skills one would think he would be hired quickly. When he came to me he said “I don’t understand why nobody wants to hire me? I’ve been unemployed for 18 months and have almost landed 4 jobs, but it seems I’m always the runner up. I do a good job and don’t ask for much. ”

I replied, “There is your problem. You are not asking for anything. You are too nice. You are probably not telling people what you want to do and what you are good at.” Josh looked at me as if I was asking him to be immoral, as if I was asking him to ask for more than his fair share and to brag. That is not nice behavior for most people.

To many men this seems greedy and counterproductive. Years of modern social conditioning have led us to believe if you are nice and not pushy, you will be rewarded. In kindergarten if we were quiet and patient while waiting in line we were rewarded with praises and prizes. Parents often did the same. The pushy braggers were sent to the back of the line or pointed out to us as spoiled children. Advance 20 or 30 years and most men are still living by grade school ethics. (This is true for most areas of men’s lives.)

Most of us expect our bosses, superiors and hiring managers as well as spouses to naturally see the best in us and reward us for waiting our turn. This is what nice guys do. Rather think of what a hiring manager wants to hear. They want you to make it easy for them. Explain to them what you can do, why you are good at it and why it would be beneficial to hire you. When you do this well, you can ask for much because you ARE worth it and you have just proved it

So what became of Josh? In our first meeting I showed him how to see value in himself mainly through the DISC profile. Then we discussed how to communicate his value and patterns of success in terms an employer wants to hear. We just barely touched on the importance of being assertive (at the right time) in asking for fair compensation before our time was up. This was all he needed. In a brief email Josh thanked me for my coaching and apologized for not getting back to me sooner. The week after we met he started a series of interviews and was hired. He admitted it was hard to brag of his ability, but was thankful for the result.

Most people do not truly understand their value and are run over by life. They do not know they are being run over because they are unaware their value is being trampled on. They just think, “Guess it is not my turn yet. I’ll be nice and wait my turn.” Stop being nice. Start understanding yourself and the value you have to give. Start earning what you deserve.

I used to think monsters were only make believe and for children, but they are real and they exist at your work.

I’m on a plane bound for Dallas Texas to visit a friend and mentor.  Enter Lewis Gordon, size 50 shoulders, full, thick beard with strands of curly silver woven within.  The plane is nearly full and he eyes the open middle seat next to me.  He then perceives all 6 foot 5 of me.

Dr. Lewis Gordon (Used with permission)

A look flashes in his eyes, acknowledging it would take a crowbar to wedge our larger-than-average frames together.  He politely suggests he will find a more comfortable spot, but as he looks around, every seat as been filled by impatient travelers.

As Mr. Gordon sits, he offers up a verbal shoehorn to help ease both of us into the tight fit. Pointing at the book in my hand, he asks, “What are you reading?”
“’Masterful Coaching’. It’s something for my business.  What do you have there?”  I asked as I reciprocated the pointing.
“Oh something I wrote. It is on how humanity no longer listens to monsters and the monsters have lost their voice.”

“What?!”, I thought to myself.  “ Did we once hear monsters, and why does it matter?”  Lewis insists it does matter, and it matters more we no longer are paying attention.  Monsters are an actual warning.

He begins to lay out the facts:  The word “monster” comes from the Latin root “monere”, which means a warning or omen.  In antiquity (roman and Greek stories) monsters were a warning to humanity that some disaster was about to occur unless humans did something quickly to change their ways.  Through stories, monsters represented real world issues.

By now I have learned Mr. Gordon is actually Dr. Gordon of Temple University, Brown University and the University of West Indies in Jamaica.  He received his doctorate of philosophy from Yale at age 31.  Atypical of some heady philosophers, when we are talking, I’m not talked down to.  Nor does he expect me to “know” his world of academics, and he easily explains a term or concept unfamiliar to me.

At one point, Dr. Gordon states, “Disasters are the fault of humans, because they don’t listen to the warnings.”  I was perplexed at how this man could make a broad, flippant remark, so I asked for an example and he referred to Haiti.  “The same (magnitude) earthquake happened in San Francisco, and it had little impact.”  I objected to his example saying a “natural disaster” was out of the realm human influence.  That is where he had me.  Dr. Gordon pointed out “natural events” humans can not control, but “natural disasters” are indeed our fault.  Going back to Haiti. “Pressures were placed on Haitians to cut corners, to have few options but to have a near nonexistent infrastructure through which, as in San Francisco, they are able to have quakes without fatalities.”   It would not have been a disaster had people lived by a higher moral standard.  (My comment) If you are thinking poverty prevented them from resources, ponder which came first, corruption or poverty?  Then ponder what we are headed towards in America.

This brought him to his point of why monsters have lost their voice: The world is saying intellect is more important than morals.  (I will write on this in in the next postings).  People would rather been seen as smart than moral.  Monsters are a symbol of immorality, and when people are looking to be more intelligent, they are not listening to the language monsters speak.

Monsters are not immoral in of themselves; they are a symptom of things gone badly.  Some come to right wrongs, and others are the direct product of destructive behavior.  Again, they are a warning life is out of balance.

Dr. Gordon never spoke of Judeo-Christian values directly, nor said the Haitian’s suffered because of their own corruptness alone (like some TV evangelists).  His message is more global and broad.  We, as a whole, are responsible to care for those around us by doing what is right, not what is only smart.  Being smart is not always right.  Hedging bets at the possible expense of others… covering your back… watching out for your career by positioning another person out… squeezing out every drop of profit… “I should do this even if I don’t want to because it is the smart, socially acceptable move”.  These are all examples of what is smart, but is not always right.

My mind easily turned to the work place.  When I talk to people about the discontent they have feel about work, they are unknowingly talking about monsters.  Huge looming issues and concerns that do not go away. The trouble is most discontent workers are trying to out think the symptoms and missing the message of what needs to be done to do right.  Instead of listening, they react by thinking a better position, more money, extra time off, or a new company will make the pain go away.  Then disaster strikes.  Sometimes they are laid off or fired.  It can be as simple as being passed over for promotion.  Sometimes divorce transpires from the imbalance between home and work life.  They missed the warning and are now stunned at how it could have all happened.

Here are the two messages I know to be missed the most often:

1. There is something wrong with the way the company and I fit.
2. There is something wrong with the way I fit in my position.

Each requires a different solution and often the solutions are mixed up.  Yes, the answers have a moral core.  Before reacting, listen to which monster is calling your name.  It could be both.  Even when you know which one it is, seek to know why.  The why is always more important than the what.

In part 2 we will look at your moral obligation to follow your heart at work.

~cb

Dr. Lewis Gordon was a high school teacher in NYC where he founded the Second Chance program.   Started grad school at 28 to explore the problem of human potential.  Written 11 books and is the Director of the Institute for the Study of Race and Social Thought at Temple University.

If you would like to learn more about Dr. Gordon you can visit his Temple University website page.

The andon board that lights up when the cord is pulled to halt the assembly line.

Pish-posh is what I say. Toyota will come out better because they are returning to their core values. Toyota has an industry unique manufacturing process. Anybody on the manufacturing line has the power to stop everything at anytime for any reason. One lowly worker putting on the Toyota decal can shut down the plant if the decal has a defect by pulling the Andon cord. The decal is not a critical part of the car, but it represents quality, a core value of Toyota.

Here is Toyota’s reason for giving so much power to someone in a lowly position. Taiichi Ohno created the Toyota Production System and had a great ha-ah moment in his career. Give workers the ability to take control and the factory stops producing unnecessary items. Before workers where told “just do this job, and focus on productivity.” But what they produced was lots of unwanted products.

I’ve seen a lot of job hunters strive for productivity (money) and end up making themselves into a product nobody wants to buy. “ I don’t need to worry about what I do, I must just do a job.” Even in their job search they will take quantity (any job) over quality (a fitting job). The reason for falling into this trap is they have lost touch with their core values, or possibly never knew what they were.

How do you get back to quality? Pull the Andon Cord in your life and stop everything. Stop trying to grasp for salvation and the instant fix by chasing numbers. Ignore the experts who say stopping and changing directions is a fatal drastic move. Remember and/or find out what you do best and return to it. If you don’t know start by taking the DISC profile test (ask me) and get a copy of Strengths Finder 2.0 from Amazon.   Ask your friends, past colleagues and family what you do best. You might be surprised to hear what you are good at seems almost common place to you. We often overlook our best gifting. Then start doing again what you do best.

Give yourself the power to control the assembly line of your life and say I’ve got a problem here and I can’t go forward until it is fixed.

Toyota is doing what they do best, stopping everything until it is fixed. This time it is the whole US division. Here is an interesting fact: each year when the North America Toyota plant’s quality dropped to the bronze level as judged by JD Power Awards, the next award Toyota received  improved to gold. In 2009 they received only bronze. Want to take a bet on what award they will earn in 2010?

Now, go do like wise.