Writing a “Work Proposal”
1. Find the employer’s pain by asking probing questions about the company’s needs, problems and challenges.
2. Make direct connections between your qualifications, skills and accomplishments – and the hiring manager’s primary issues.
3. Use a soft-sell approach. Rather than pushing for a follow-up meeting, leave this in the employer’s hands. If the hiring manager calls or writes you back, you’ll know you’ve got something.
4. Get the employer to “fall in love” with you. When your networking efforts lead to a meeting in which you and the hiring manager truly “click,” he or she will ask if you might be interested in coming to work for their company – even though there may not have been a job opening there.
5. Make the employer an offer they can’t refuse by showing in your “Work Proposal” how you can successfully address their concerns. At that point, this becomes a “no brainer” for the hiring manager – which is why the “Work Proposal” has such a high success rate.
How to Network to “Get The Job You Want, Even When No One’s Hiring”
1. Spend at least 90% of your job search time networking, and about 10% of your time and effort on everything else. In this employment climate, networking shifts from being part of your job search to being almost all of your job search.
2. Come from an attitude of “extreme generosity” during the networking process. After every networking conversation, the other person should feel genuinely glad that you contacted them and feel enriched by the experience.
3. Create and use a structured “networking agenda.” Everyone is stretched to the limit; doing more with less. Sticking to a meeting agenda makes your networking meetings time-efficient and highly productive.
4. Track your networking performance, day-to-day and week-to-week. This is how you’ll gauge your productivity and effectiveness. The goal is to continually improve your performance and produce better results. If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.
5. Position yourself as a “solutions provider,” not as a “job seeker.” The only thing employers are interested in these days is “What can you do for me TODAY!” They are no longer interested in just “filling job openings.”
Changes are Ahead in the Future of Jobs and Work
The biggest change I see in the future of “jobs” is that the fundamental definition of work is in the process of shifting dramatically. The work-world our parents experienced no longer exists; yet no new concept of work has been fully established. In a sense, all working people are therefore in a “state of limbo,” waiting to see how the career landscape will look “when the dust settles.”
For many, this is a disorienting and confusing period – but we are also faced with a huge opportunity to create a more enlightened experience of work that will be more appropriate for today’s world.
