Guerrilla Marking for Job Hunters 2.0 - Jay Conrad Levinson [28]
Job hunting can actually be that simple, yet all too many job hunters, even those adept at marketing, focus on their needs and not the employer’s. Think about what you have to offer the company in light of its ability to serve its customers and grow.
■ THE THREE RS OF SUCCESSFUL JOB HUNTING
In grade school, we learned the Three Rs—Reading, wRriting, and aRithmetic. Those were our most important lessons [okay, so I’m dating myself here]. For job hunters, Research, Relevancy, and Resiliency will result in an interview.
➤ Research
As a job hunter, you need to research and determine:
• Which are your marketable skills?
• Which industries/companies should you target that use those skills?
• What are the specific needs of each company in your target market?
• Who is in a position to hire you in those companies?
• What is the best way to approach them?
Your research will determine the way you approach people. We talk more about research later in the book.
➤ Relevancy
Your offer (skills) must fit their needs. It has to solve the employer’s issues, not yours. It is not about you. At the core, employers only want to know 3 things about you:
1. Can you make me money?
2. Can you save me money?
3. Can you increase our efficiencies?
As global competitiveness increases, employers will be looking for all three. Later in the book, we show you how to express your relevancy—value—to an employer.
➤ Resiliency
Resiliency is the ability to spring back from disappointment and keep moving forward. This is the quality that keeps guerrillas focused on their goals and driving forward. Adopt a positive mindset no matter what. Guerrillas always look for the positives even when people and events are clearly indicating they should not.
A WAR STORY
Mark J. Haluska
Gary Smith [not his real name] is a highly skilled jack-of-all-trades when it comes to residential carpentry and construction. Some years back when interest rates went through the roof, the result was a severe slowdown in new home building. As a result, Gary was laid off. Being the proud person that he is, he refused to accept unemployment compensation. Besides, it never covers the bills. Gary decided to take the matter into his own hands in an unusual way.
Gary started driving around to all the area building supply companies to find out where any new home construction sites might be located. This piece of detective work quickly provided him with several places to target. That very day, he found one that seemed to have plenty of work in progress. So the next morning by 7 AM, he just showed up at the work site, coffee thermos and lunch pail in hand, and a tool belt on his waist.
As the crew started to work, Gary decided he would just help himself to being useful. He began the morning by offering to help the crew unload the morning delivery trucks. When that was done, he started to help haul shingles up on the roof and then proceeded to nail shingles.
During the first coffee break, Gary asked one of the people he was so generously helping, “Where’s the boss?” To which he received the reply, “The boss never shows up before 11 AM.”
When coffee break was over, Gary crawled back up on the roof and started nailing more shingles. The crew boss finally showed up and after about 2 hours, finally asked Gary, “Who are you?” To which Gary replied, “My name is Gary Smith, and I am a carpenter. I thought maybe you could use some help around here.” The boss responded, “Gary, we’re not hiring right now, so give me your number and if I need help I’ll call you.”
Now Gary being a guerrilla said, “What the heck, the day is more than half over, I had nothing planned for the day so let me just finish out the shift at no cost to you, and when we’re done for the day, just let me know how I did.”
The construction site boss said, “Hey, it’s your nickel, but I never agreed to pay you.”
The shift over, Gary asked how he did and the boss said, “You did a good job. I