Job Hunt Lessons from the Presidential Campaign

By Leslie Stevens-Huffman

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Every four years, job hunters have the opportunity to view the hiring process from the other side of the desk, as presidential candidates try to convince voters to hire them for one of the most important jobs in the world.

No matter which side you’re on, you can learn a lot about running an effective campaign by observing the candidates’ behaviors and interactions with the public and the media. Here are some examples to help you get started:

Be Ready to Seize the Moment

Even an experienced orator may stammer or ramble if they haven’t anticipated the tough questions. And unlike politicians, job seekers rarely get a second chance to recover from a less-than-stellar performance. That places a premium on rehearsing possible answers before your interview.

“You only have a finite number of opportunities to convince the hiring manager, so every answer counts,” explained Jeff Altman, head coach for JobSearchCoachingHQ.com.

Conveying clear ideas and summoning examples on-the-fly can be difficult when you’re under pressure. Perfecting a list of talking points, one liners and interesting vignettes well before an interview can help you shine when you’re in the spotlight.

Stick to the “Issues”

Although pivoting is a staple for politicians and basketball players, it’s not something you want to emulate.

“As we’ve seen in the recent presidential debates, the main question is either ignored and goes unanswered or is answered vaguely before quickly switching topics,” noted Jon Forknell, who oversees and manages a development team for Atlas Business Solutions.

The key to convincing a manager that you’re the right hire is to focus on the “issues,” which, in this case, are the job requirements. “There’s nothing wrong with providing some ancillary information,” Forknell added, “but make sure you’ve covered the main question(s) first when you speak with the hiring manager.”

Develop a Powerful Brand

Could you articulate your unique value and characteristics to the CIO if you bumped into her in the elevator? Are you ready to answer the eternal question: “Why should we hire you?”

Presidential hopefuls spend hours figuring out what voters want, then developing core messaging and a catchy slogan that resonates—and so should you.

Steal a page from the political playbooks by creating a robust online presence and establishing yourself as a go-to expert in your specialty before you hit the market. In addition, stand out amongst a sea of professionals by garnering validating endorsements from colleagues, clients and former managers.

Articulate a 100-Day Plan

Show the hiring manager that you’re ready to hit the ground running by bringing a 100-day action plan to the interview, especially if you’re vying for a management position. Laying out what you intend to accomplish not only shows that you have a command of the issues, but have come up with some viable solutions.

Create an Advisory Board

“It takes different skills to find a job than to do a job,” Altman noted. Having a group of mentors and advisors can ensure that you have the right strategy to win and a core message that resonates.

Be Humble and Likeable

Studies show that likable people are more apt to be hired, get help at work and have their mistakes forgiven. Putting others down or refusing to consider alternate solutions or approaches to technical problems can make you seem difficult and hard to work with. Embracing the habits of likeable people can make you seem trustworthy and increase your chances of success.

Run a Clean Campaign

Don’t embellish your projects or responsibilities, or it may come back to bite you. “Be true to yourself, not who you think they’re looking to hire, as this will increase the likelihood of you being a good fit for your new employer and vice versa,” Forknell noted.

While politicians may get away with telling tall tales, job seekers who get caught lying on their resumes or who bash their former co-workers or bosses are usually shown the door.

Job Search Lessons from the Presidential Election of 2016

[svp]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JLun4ggClA[/svp]
In this video, I discuss a lesson we can all take away from the recent events of the US presidential campaign.

 

[spp-transcript]

This is a video that some of the job-search lessons that can be gleaned from the presidential election of 2016.

As I recorded this video, it was a very dynamic week.  Donald Trump was exposed for a video where he was speaking of women in a degrading way. In addition, Sec. Clinton and, shall we say, some of her “vacillations” were exposed by WikiLeaks where they released some of the speeches that were given at Goldman Sachs that she had not wanted released.

Thus, we can take away from this a very simple and profound lesson–There is no hiding anymore.

If you post something online that is in any way, shape or form controversial it can be found, it can be exposed, you just can’t hide anymore. I have to assume that candidates have decent levels of security around them and they are being found out now, right?

A few weeks ago we had Trump and his old tax return that revealed a huge loss that he took. Obviously, this is something that someone paid for to obtain that tax return or blackmailed someone to obtain it.

How does this happen? The privacy feature on all the sites seems to be next to nonexistent.

Email security.  Companies are not going to hack your email to find out about your past unlike what they did with John Podesta. Recruiters are not going to hack your email. Every 1 of us is going online to see what additional information other than the carefully cultivated image that you are trying to present that we can find.

Are we going to spend hours, days or months trying to find it like people do with presidential candidates?  Of course not. We are looking for obvious chinks in your armor, Dean was in what you are trying to present, that allow us to see behind the image and find out that which you are trying to hide.

So, this is a great lesson and, unfortunately, our country is being affected by this lesson but your family can be affected by this lesson as well. I know early in this election season, I made a decision not to engage in any online conversations about politics, hiding posts and not responding to them, no matter whose position was and whether I agreed with it or not. Politics is 1 of these areas where people are absolutely incensed, enraged and beside themselves. I’m not taking a position on any of these candidates.  I’m simply pointing out that you cannot engage in online conversation about anything that can come back to haunt you.

If you are self-employed, if you are a business owner, you can lose business. If you are a job hunter, you can lose opportunities. Just recognize that dynamic and don’t fall prey to it here.

[/spp-transcript]

 

Do you really think employers are trying to help you? You already know you can’t trust recruiters—they tell you as much as they think you need to know to take the job they after representing so they collect their payday.

The skills needed to find a job are different yet complement the skills needed to do a job.

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter has been a career coach and recruiter for what seems like one hundred years.

JobSearchCoachingHQ.com is there to change that with great advice for job hunters—videos, my books and guides to job hunting, podcasts, articles, PLUS a community for you to ask questions of PLUS the ability to ask me questions where I function as your ally with no conflict of interest answering your questions.

Connect with me on LinkedIn http://bit.ly/thebiggamehunter

Job Search Lessons from The Presidential Election 2016

[svp]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXS-XJOYE3Y[/svp]
There are things to take away from the current Presidential election that can be applied to job hunting. Use one that is obvious to me, but may be less so to you.

[spp-transcript]

it’s 2016 and I want to use the example of this year’s presidential election to make a point for job hunters. This is not going to be a political exercise and do not invite your opinions about either candidate. Keep them to yourself. I’m going to start with Sec. Clinton and in my next video in this series will start with Donald Trump.

Both of these are candidates that have intentionally re-branded themselves over the course of time. Secretary of State Clinton has changed many of her positions over the course of time, whether he is on trade where she supported her husband’s positions on NAFTA to her time as Secretary of State to 2008 where she’s spoke about taking a pause on signing trade agreements to, as Secretary of State, helping to create the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement to now opposing it. I’m sure there are many valid reasons but part of it is the elections and the fact that the electorate is not all that fond of these agreements for a variety of reasons that are not important to go into.

Even since this election began where she was considered more hawkish than Sen. Sanders, she has evolved her positions on many many issues. The notion of rebooting or re-branding her position on different issues has been a part of her candidacy.

On the other side is Donald Trump. Few of us know his positions on many issues. The way he has been evaluated is on the basis of his personality and his personal attacks. As recently as August 2016, coming out of the respective conventions, he was little more than a buffoon and… I do want to get into name-calling. I will just say he was not very popular among large segments of the voting population.

However, as I record this at the end of September, 2016, he has rebooted himself, brought in different aides, changed how he presents himself, is not antagonizing anywhere near the degree he did before, and, if he is, it is being swatted away quietly by his representatives.

What can we take away from these behaviors from Clinton, who is changed her positions and from Trump who has changed the display of his personality? What can we learn?

The answer was very simple – – when things aren’t working, change. For job hunters, often, you are doing the same things over and over again that aren’t getting you results you want. You keep doing it because you think that’s the way to get what you want. You keep repeating these things and doing them over and over and over again and wondering why you are not getting the outcomes that you want. If you are not getting interviews. If you are getting interviews, you are not being invited back. If you are being invited back, maybe you’re getting job offers or maybe you aren’t. It just isn’t working and you’re putting in a lot of effort.

Here’s what I want to point out. Like the candidates, you can change as well. You can rewrite your resume to make it stronger. You can practice answering questions that are asked on interviews. You can get coaching to help you with your search so that you are not making dumb mistakes through your lack of experience. The experience says you are not making the right choices.

Let me go back to something for those of you who think you are good at interview.

Even you hiring managers who read resumes and interview people for your job, you think that makes you good at job hunting. The truth is, you aren’t. Do you think that Michael Jackson did it by himself? No, he had a coach.

To be an expert according to Malcolm Gladwell and other takes 10,000 hours of focused concentrated effort, ideally under the supervision of someone who knows their craft and can redirect you.

You have how much experience? Even if you are interviewing for your employer, how much experience do you have interviewing? You know your own reactions but don’t know other employers’.

Get some help. Hire a coach. That’s what Trump has done he has gotten coaching. That’s how Clinton has operated throughout. The Trump people, the Republicans, the conservatives may say she is a candidate who sways in the breeze and follows the polls. No matter. It works, right? What Trump was doing wasn’t working in the general election. He has changed. Why can’t you?

Each of these individuals hire someone to help them get to the outcome that they want. Pro athletes do it. Entertainers do it, too. Do you think Michael Jackson, Madonna or Stevie wonder did it by themselves? People who are successful have coaches. Get some help. Learn the lessons from the Presidential candidates and hire a coach.

[/spp-transcript].

Do you really think employers are trying to help you? You already know you can’t trust recruiters—they tell as they think you need to know to take the job they after representing so they collect their payday.

The skills needed to find a job are different yet complement the skills needed to do a job.

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter has been a career coach and recruiter for what seems like one hundred years.h

JobSearchCoachingHQ.com is there to change that with great advice for job hunters—videos, my books and guides to job hunting, podcasts, articles, PLUS a community for you to ask questions of PLUS the ability to ask me questions where I function as your ally with no conflict of interest answering your questions.

Connect with me on LinkedIn 

Job Search Lessons from The US Political Conventions

Conventions

 

Both Republicans and Democrats have convened, nominated and received acceptance of that nomination of their candidates for President and Vice President of the United States. It has been a long road for Donald J. Trump and Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton and in fewer than 100 days one will be elected President and the other will return home, defeated and exhausted by their effort.

Before we go any further, to be clear, this is not about politics or advocating for any candidate. I am not taking sides or want comments about how one candidate or the other is a this or that.

OK?

  1. You have to put in effort and money in order to be nominated for a job.

Yes, I know this is a pre-convention comment but it is a fact. For you, as a job hunter, you can get some interviews but great interviews are going to take a lot of effort. Politicians may go through primaries but you’re going to have to network, including activating your existing network and building your network out further in order to walk in the door. I was once told that 70% of all positions are filled through networking; 70% of the 70% are filled as a result of networking to people that you didn’t know what the beginning of your job search. Do you think you should be spending time on job boards or building your network?

  1. The people you meet with will have impressions of you before meeting you.

They are obviously investing time in meeting with you because they believe you have skills and experience that can help them, same as the politicians. Your job is to learn and confirm what they are thinking about you before you meet with them. Your job is to confirm and exceed their expectations. Part of that involves demonstrating knowledge and skills competence. The other part involves delighting them with who you are as a person. People hire people they know like and trust.

Maybe this won’t work for the politicians in this election but it works in job hunting. Be the person who, ideally, is referred to the hiring manager by someone who knows them and you who they trust.

  1. There’ll be surprises when you least expect it.

Certainly, the DNC learned that the hard way at their convention; the RNC learned it to with have few a-list Republicans were willing to attend. Surprises are rarely good in job hunting. As a matter of fact, in my 40 someone years of experience filling jobs I can only think of one good surprise among the more than 1200 positions I filled. Don’t be complacent; always be presenting yourself in a great light.

  1. You can recover from problems in the interview with great support from surrogates.

The Republicans were criticized for a chaotic start to their convention yet they recovered and closed strong. Trump was critiqued to have given a good acceptance speech. He had a good bounce in the polls as a result.

The first two days of the Democratic convention were equally chaotic. It is not common for the head of a political party to resign just before the convention and need to leave before the nominee is installed. It is not common for the losing candidate’s followers to be as demonstrably oppositional as they were at the Democratic convention.

Strong advocates for your candidacy can make a difference with decision-makers. Always see if you know someone who works at the firm your interviewing with and whether they are willing to advocate for you with the hiring manager, just like Pres. Obama and VP Biden did for Sec. Clinton and Donald Trump’s offspring did for him.

  1. Confirm what is expected of you.

Although both presidential candidates say they were trying to widen their following, if you listen carefully, both really spoke to their base, rather than attempt to widen their following. In a job search, your job is to confirm that you know what you claim to know and that you can do what they need you to do.

  1. Feedback shapes the discussion

Depending what channel you watched, you saw different conventions. NBC was different than MSNBC, different than CBS, different than Fox, different than CNN and different than ABC.

Who is the hiring manager listening to and how can you get to them to support you in their eyes, particularly if there was a “rough edge” during the interview.

I remember a job applicant who believed he answered a question correctly and saw a puzzled look on the interviewer’s face who disagreed with the answer. I encouraged him to email his reasoning and proof to both the interviewer and the hiring manager, saying there was an obvious disagreement over the correct answer. He offered citations for the answer provided and was hired after one final interview.

Here’s one more thing that doesn’t have anything to do with the convention.

  1. Ask for and hire help.

You don’t know what you don’t know. Hire help before that knowledge gap comes back to bite you in a part of your anatomy that will be very painful and cost you an opportunity you really want.

 

 

© The Big Game Hunter, Inc. Asheville, NC  2016

 

Do you think employers are trying to help you? You already know you can’t trust recruiters—they tell as they think you need to know to take the job they after representing so they collect their payday.

The skills needed to find a job are different and complement the skills needed to do a job

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter has been a career coach and recruiter for what seems like one hundred years.

JobSearchCoachingHQ.com is there to change that with great advice for job hunters—videos, my books and guides to job hunting, podcasts, articles, PLUS a community for you to ask questions of PLUS the ability to ask me questions where I function as your ally with no conflict of interest answering your questions.

Connect with me on LinkedIn.

Follow The Big Game Hunter, Inc.

Job Search Lessons from the Presidential Elections (Video)

 

I speak about a lesson we can take from the recent primaries. This is not political.

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Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter has been a career coach and recruiter for what seems like one hundred years.

Follow him at The Big Game Hunter, Inc. on LinkedIn for more articles, videos and podcasts than what are offered here and jobs he is recruiting for.

Visit www.TheBigGameHunter.us. There’s a lot more advice there.

Connect with me on LinkedIn

Pay what you want for my books about job search

Subscribe to TheBigGameHunterTV on YouTube  for advice about job hunting and hiring. Like videos, share and comment.

Trying to hire someone? Email me at JeffAltman@TheBigGameHunter.us

Do you need more in-depth coaching? Join my Coaching program.

Want to ask me questions via phone, Skype or Facetime? Have your job search questions answered

Branding Lessons from the Presidential Elections (Video)

 

I use the US Presidential elections as an example of how branding can work for you.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter has been a coach and recruiter for what seems like one hundred years.

Follow him at The Big Game Hunter, Inc. on LinkedIn for more articles, videos and podcasts than what are offered here and jobs he is recruiting for.

Visit www.TheBigGameHunter.us. There’s a lot more advice there.

Connect with me on LinkedIn

Pay what you want for my books about job search

Subscribe to TheBigGameHunterTV on YouTube  for advice about job hunting and hiring. Like videos, share and comment.

Trying to hire someone? Email me at JeffAltman@TheBigGameHunter.us

Do you need more in-depth coaching? Join my Coaching program.

Want to ask me questions via phone, Skype or Facetime? Have your job search questions answered.

Job Search Lessons from Sen Bernie Sanders and Gov Martin O’Malley

 

In this continuing series, we look at two Presidential candidates and what they can teach us about job search.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter has been a coach and recruiter for what seems like one hundred years.

Follow him at The Big Game Hunter, Inc. on LinkedIn for more articles, videos and podcasts than what are offered here and jobs he is recruiting for.

Visit www.TheBigGameHunter.us. There’s a lot more advice there.

Connect with me on LinkedIn

Pay what you want for my books about job search

Subscribe to TheBigGameHunterTV on YouTube  for advice about job hunting and hiring. Like videos, share and comment.

Trying to hire someone? Email me at JeffAltman@TheBigGameHunter.us

Do you need more in-depth coaching? Join my Coaching program.

Want to ask me questions via phone, Skype or Facetime? Have your job search questions answered.

 

Job Hunting During The Political Season

 

As we enter a Presidential election years, I reminded that not everyone shares your views.

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Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter has been a coach and recruiter for what seems like one hundred years.

Follow him at The Big Game Hunter, Inc. on LinkedIn for more articles, videos and podcasts than what are offered here and jobs he is recruiting for.

Visit www.TheBigGameHunter.us. There’s a lot more advice there.

Connect with me on LinkedIn

Pay what you want for my books about job search

Subscribe to TheBigGameHunterTV on YouTube  for advice about job hunting and hiring. Like videos, share and comment.

Trying to hire someone? Email me at JeffAltman@TheBigGameHunter.us

Do you need more in-depth coaching? Join my Coaching program.

Want to ask me questions via phone, Skype or Facetime? Have your job search questions answered.

 

 

Job Search Lessons from Barack Obama

No, this isn’t a history lesson but an opportunity to review some of the takeaways from President Obama’s initial victory.

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter has been a coach and recruiter for what seems like one hundred years.

Follow him at The Big Game Hunter, Inc. on LinkedIn for more articles, videos and podcasts than what are offered here and jobs he is recruiting for.

Visit www.TheBigGameHunter.us. There’s a lot more advice there.

Email me if your firm is trying to hire someone.

Connect with me on LinkedIn

Pay what you want for my books about job search

Subscribe to TheBigGameHunterTV on YouTube  for advice about job hunting and hiring. Like videos, share and comment.

Trying to hire someone? Email me at JeffAltman@TheBigGameHunter.us

Do you need more in-depth coaching? Join my Coaching program.

Want to ask me questions via phone, Skype or Facetime? Have your job search questions answered.

Job Search Lessons from the Presidential Elections of 2016

 

After watching the Republican debates, I decided to examine the campaign from the view of someone who is loooking for work. There were lessons that you can learn from the campaign.

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter has been a coach and recruiter for what seems like one hundred years.

Follow him at The Big Game Hunter, Inc. on LinkedIn for more articles, videos and podcasts than what are offered here and jobs he is recruiting for.

Visit www.TheBigGameHunter.us. There’s a lot more advice there.

Email me if your firm is trying to hire someone.

Connect with me on LinkedIn

Pay what you want for my books about job search

Subscribe to TheBigGameHunterTV on YouTube  for advice about job hunting and hiring. Like videos, share and comment.

Trying to hire someone? Email me at JeffAltman@TheBigGameHunter.us

Do you need more in-depth coaching? Join my Coaching program.

Want to ask me questions via phone, Skype or Facetime? Have your job search questions answered