The Ten Worst Job Search Tips Ever

Dear Liz,

I recently joined a job search networking group. I enjoy the interaction with the other members, but the speakers who come and address our group tend to give out the same tired, old job-search advice you rail against.

I had to bite my lip for 45 minutes straight at our job-search networking group meeting this week.

The speaker said "Consider volunteering for an organization you want to work for. Once they see what a great job you do for free, they may create a position for you." I didn't say anything because it wasn't my place, but I wanted to!

Why do so many people tell job-seekers to grovel? I've never heard anybody suggest that a house painter or auto mechanic give away their labor for free.

Thanks Liz!

Yours,

Doran

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Dear Doran,

We have been taught a set of ideas — called a frame — about employment.

We have a mental model about employment implanted in our heads.

Here are some of the ideas embedded in the traditional employment frame most of us learned as children:

• Employers of any size are mighty, and job-seekers (and employees) are interchangeable machine parts of little significance.

• A job-seeker's goal is to convince an employer to choose him or her from a field of other, equally qualified applicants.

• There is always more available talent than there are available jobs.

• You are very lucky to get an employer to glance your way.

This is all nonsense, of course! As you point our, we do not have the same set of sick, twisted ideas about self-employment. Business owners, however modest their business, sit on a higher plane than employees in the mental model.

In fact, we put entrepreneurs on a pedestal and say "Look how daring they are —such risk-takers!" We say that even though a hundred and fifty years ago virtually all of our forebears were entrepreneurs. They didn't have a fancy French word to describe how they made their living.

They just got up every morning and did it.

We don't teach kids about entrepreneurship in school.

Most college degree programs don't say a word about self-employment. As a result we don't know how to manage our careers the way business owners manage their businesses — even though that is the most important thing for every working person to know.

Knowledge (plus the confidence to act on it) is empowerment!

You will get paid whatever you believe you are worth and can get an employer or client to pay you. You will get paid more and more as you learn to solve bigger and more expensive kinds of Business Pain.

Working for free is a great way to convince yourself and an employer that your work has no value at all.

The minute you start to believe that you are nothing and employers run your life, you are done. Who will value your talents if you don't value them yourself?

"Work for free to show the employer how awesome you are" is certainly one of the worst pieces of job-search advice I've ever heard.

Here are nine more job-search tips to ignore:

• Write your resume in the standard, zombie style a la "Results-oriented professional with a bottom-line orientation" to show employers that you speak their language.

• Sit in front of your computer all day and fill out online job applications. That is how you'll get your next job.

• When a recruiter asks for your salary history including proof of your past wages, give it to them immediately. Do anything the recruiter asks you to do — they are in charge, not you!

• Apply for every job you might remotely be qualified for.

• In your resume, keep your branding as broad and non-specific as you can. If you've ever done anything, include it on your resume just in case!

• On a job interview, sit meekly in your chair. Don't speak until the interviewer asks you a question. Then, answer the question succinctly and be quiet until the interviewer asks you another question.

• If you and your hiring manager agreed that your salary target is $50,000 and then you get a job offer for $42,000, take the offer anyway! If you try to negotiate your offer, it might be rescinded and then you'll be out of luck.

• Ignore your gut and your instincts on the job search. You can't afford to listen to them — you  need a job!

• If the employer seems to be stringing you along and keeping you waiting during the recruiting process, that's okay. Stick with it! Months down the road, you may get a job offer.

• Take the first job offer you get. Jobs are hard to find!

Let's break down these nine pieces of terrible job search advice and see what's wrong with each of them — and what to do instead!

A zombie-style resume brands you as just another anonymous, colorless, low-confidence job seeker. That doesn't describe you! You have a story and a voice. Bring them across in your resume and your LinkedIn profile.

Filling out online job applications is the worst way to get a job. Instead, use Pain Letters, create a Target Employer List and work your way down the list, use your network, and work with recruiters (not just anyone, though — someone smart and human who deserves to represent you!) to get a job.

Also, get your own consulting business cards and begin networking as a consultant, not a job-seeker.

Your mojo — that's your life force, your emotional energy supply and your belief in yourself — is the fuel for your job search. You will only deplete that finite, precious resource by behaving like a person who has no standards, no requirements and no boundaries. Your salary history is nobody's business but your own.

Tell any recruiter who wants your salary history that you are not comfortable sharing your personal financial information — any more than they would be comfortable telling you what they are earning right now.

If they simply must have your salary history in order to hire you, they should hire somebody else. That sort of organization would not be a good place to work anyway.

Smart recruiters who value talent will accept your salary target in place of your salary history.

When they ask you "What are you earning now?" say "I'm focusing on jobs in the $50,000 range. Is this position in that range?"

To get a job that deserves you, you must brand yourself specifically for the jobs you want — not for every job you're capable of performing. Then, you can apply for jobs that match your branding, and you can customize your Human-Voiced Resume to suit specific opportunities even more closely.

On a job interview, your goal is to get a human conversation going. Don't answer a question and then clam up. Ask a follow-up question, and tell a story whenever you can!

If you and your hiring manager (not the recruiter) agreed on your target salary and your hiring manager didn't say "We can't pay that much," then a job offer at a lower salary is a huge red flag — one of the biggest red flags possible.

You have to negotiate the offer or walk away — otherwise you will have branded yourself a dupe, a patsy and a person who will take whatever abuse is heaped on them.

Your gut is your best guide. If your gut says "Get out of here — this place is toxic" listen to it!

If the employer strings you along, ask them why. Ask them what the remaining steps in their hiring process are, and how long they expect the process to take. You are a business owner. Your business is your career! You are as busy as anyone else.

Take the first job offer you get if you like the people, the job description and the overall package (hours/pay/benefits/working environment/etc.).

If not, take the second or third or a subsequent job offer. Keep in mind that if one employer wants to hire you, others will too — they only need to meet you first!

Liz Ryan is CEO/founder of Human Workplace and author of Reinvention Roadmap. Follow her on Twitter and read Forbes columns.

Source: Forbes