Stupid Job Search Mistakes: Believing It Is in the Bag

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I was reminded of this from listening to a podcast and how fans of the Atlanta Falcons thought the Super Bowl was in the bag until it wasn’t.

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About Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter is a coach who worked as a recruiter for what seems like one hundred years. His work involves career coaching, all as well as executive job search coaching and business life coaching. He is the host of “Job Search Radio,” “No BS Job Search Advice Radio,” and his newest show, “No BS Coaching Advice.”

Are you interested in 1:1 coaching, interview coaching, advice about networking more effectively, how to negotiate your offer or leadership coaching? Visit www.TheBigGameHunter.us and click the relevant tab on the top of the page.

JobSearchCoachingHQ.com offers 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. Like me on Facebook.

You can order a copy of “Diagnosing Your Job Search Problems” for Kindle and receive free Kindle versions of “No BS Resume Advice” and “Interview Preparation.”

Don’t forget to give the show 5 stars and a good review in iTunes

If you want to know how to win more interviews, order “Winning Interviews.” You’ll learn how to win phone interviews, in-person interviews, the best question to ask on any interview and more.

Would you like to talk through a salary negotiation or potential negotiation you’re involved with? Order and schedule time with me.

Do you have questions or would like advice about networking or any aspect of your search. Order and schedule time with me.

Would you like me to critique your resume. Order a critique from me

For more about LinkedIn, order “Stacked: Double Your Job Interviews, Leverage Recruiters and Unlock LinkedIn.”

Jeff’s Kindle book, “You Can Fix Stupid: No BS Hiring Advice,” is available on Amazon.

How To Get Better at Your Job Search & Make Magic | No BS Job Search Advice Radio

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FROM THE ARCHIVES (2012) Any job mentioned was filled years ago.

On this show, I use the story of Jeremy Lin as a model for job hunters.

 

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter is a coach who worked as a recruiter for what seems like one hundred years. His work involves life coaching, as well as executive job search coaching and business life coaching. He is the host of “Job Search Radio,” “No BS Job Search Advice Radio,” and his newest show, “No BS Coaching Advice.”

Are you interested in 1:1 coaching or interview coaching from me?  Email me at JeffAltman@TheBigGameHunter.us and put the word, “Coaching” in the subject line.

JobSearchCoachingHQ.com offers 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. Like me on Facebook.

You can order a copy of “Diagnosing Your Job Search Problems” for Kindle for $.99 and receive free Kindle versions of “No BS Resume Advice” and “Interview Preparation.”

Don’t forget to give the show 5 stars and a good review in iTunes

Wasted (VIDEO)

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Aaron Hernandez and his suicide awakened a reminder for me and hopefully for you.

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Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter is a coach who worked in recruiting for what seems like one hundred years. He is the head coach for JobSearchCoachingHQ.com and NoBSCoachingAdvice.com

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.

Connect with me on LinkedIn

Follow The Big Game Hunter, Inc.

For more No BS Coaching Advice & encouragement, visit my website.

Ready to schedule your first coaching call?

 

Two “Wonderful” Questions You Can Be Asked PLUS Takeaways from Super Bowl LI

Ep 647 Two of those really tough interview questions you can be asked

 

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Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter is an executive job search and leadership coach who worked as a recruiter for what seems like one hundred years.

JobSearchCoachingHQ.com changes 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. NOW WITH A 7 DAY FREE TRIAL

Connect with me on LinkedIn

You can order a copy of “Diagnosing Your Job Search Problems” for Kindle for $.99 and receive free Kindle versions of “No BS Resume Advice” and “Interview Preparation.”

Don’t forget to give the show 5 stars and a good review in iTunes

Job Search Lessons from Super Bowl LI (VIDEO)

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Super Bowl LI was a fabulous game AND there are things we can learn as job hunters to help us.

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter a leadership and career coach who worked as a 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 on function as your ally with no conflict of interest answering your questions.

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

You can order a copy of “Diagnosing Your Job Search Problems” for Kindle for $.99 and receive free Kindle versions of “No BS Resume Advice” and “Interview Preparation.”

Job Search Lessons from Game 7 of the 2016 World Series (VIDEO)

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There are lessons we can apply to job search from Game 7 of the 2016 World Series.

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I’m here today with job search lessons from the World Series. 1st of all, congratulations, Cubs fans. You can waiting a long time for this.

Here are a few things that came out in the aftermath.

I would start off with the big one… The big take away from the series…

After the game, Jon Lester was talking about “the curse.”  Lester came in during the middle of the game to pitch relief, something he hasn’t done a long time, talked about the curse.  He said, “The curse is an excuse that you use for why you were not good enough.”

Catch that one.

The excuse that you’re not good enough.

For you as a job hunter, you are going to be turned down for jobs.  If you’re in business, there are deals that you are working on their not going to come through. Then, you blame other people, you blame circumstances… You blame things.  You just aren’t good enough and need to get better. You have practice to do.

If you’re in business, you have work to do to figure out what it was in your proposal didn’t work for the client.

Maybe it’s you and you didn’t sell well enough. Just recognize that there are excuses that you use. When you stop and think about it, you can buy the bull, because at the end of the day, you have to live with the consequences and need to get better.

If your job hunting, were in business for yourself, you need to practice your presentation until your phenomenal at it, so no one can turn you down. You can learn. You can get better.

Teams. Don’t win the World Series without talent and most major league teams have great talent on their roster but they need to work together in order to become champions.

Another thing that happens is that people get inspired.

Here are The Cubs, down 3 games to one and they are working their way back. Grinding. They are trying to win each inning in order to win a game. Inning by inning, working hard.

We get to Game 7, they are up big early, the score is tied, they are losing and they need a reminder. The reminder from Jason Hayward reminded them of how good they were all season… You can read the story online or in a newspaper.

The fact of the matter is that you are going to be turned down at times and you will need to suck it up, learn your lessons, know that you are good and move on.

There is no disrespect intended for the Indians. They played a great series. This is just about The Cubs here. Sometimes, there was a small difference between winning and losing.

There are stories about Anthony Rizzo playing “The Rocky” music for the last three games. “Rocky” is the story about the difference between being a club fighter and a champion.  It’s hard work and, in 1 of the movies, they use the example of

Rocky training for a fight and, as presented in the movie, this superhuman Russian character played by Dolph Lundgren training for his fight.

There are small differences between being a champion and coming in 2nd. The Cubs played to win. They pulled it together. There is a small difference between winning and losing. Game 7. 8-7 final score in extra innings.

What can you take from this game?

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Do you 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 changes 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

You can order a copy of “Diagnosing Your Job Search Problems” for Kindle for $.99 and receive free Kindle versions of “No BS Resume Advice” and “Interview Preparation.”

 

 

Heads Up!

Heads UpIn baseball, heads up means paying alert and paying attention to what is going on. There is a sort of vigilance to the situation you are in and making the right play when the ball is hit to you. After all, if you aren’t paying attention, bad things can happen including getting hurt.

If you’ve never seen the video of 50 Cent throwing out the first pitch at a Mets game, well, you understand why camera men on the field need to be heads up, particularly when a celebrity is throwing out the first pitch. YIKES!

I was reminded of the importance of keeping my head up with a recent service launch where I spent so much effort focused on creating a great product, keeping my head down for months, working on the product, I did almost no marketing ahead of the launch day. Announcing the service was greeted by a big yawn.

For you, remember, the person who gets ahead isn’t always the smartest, or work the hardest. Those are great qualities to have but don’t guaranty advancement.

In fact, the person who gets ahead is the person who remains alert to possibilities. Sometimes, those possibilities are within your current organization; more often, they are external to it.

Thus, in order to be ready for the inevitable knocks on your door with opportunities or you to consider, here are a few things you can do to foster opportunities to land in your lap . . . and be ready for them.

  1. Don’t make the mistake I did by not proactively marketing yourself. You have to think of yourself as the Chairman of the Board of your own business looking out for your own interests, rather than abdicating them to your employer. If you do that, they will look out for their interests and not yours. Decide where you want to get to and how others like you have gotten there by taking informational interviews NOW. It is not enough to connect with one person. Talk to 10 and start noticing patterns to the answers you get.

 

  1. Develop an idea of what would cause you to change jobs . . . but not stupid ones. No one is going to offer a two year developer the opportunity to be CIO of a major firm or even a Director for one. No one will hire a low level accountant for a CFO job . . . unless it is for an organization that should give you reason to reject them. If these are your criteria, you are going to burn a lot of bridges by showing professional immaturity.

         On the other hand, if you are happy where you are and would change jobs for a more challenging opportunity, with higher pay closer to home (or work from                   home), then these are things that are reasonable to be on the look out for.

 

  1. Think of LinkedIn as the place where you are being hunted for opportunities. Update your LinkedIn profile with accurate keywords to describe your work and to include your email address in the summary area (if you are actively looking for a job, include your phone number). Make it easy for people to reach you.
  1. As easy as Linkedin is making for you to connect from your mobile devices (you do have the LinkedIn app on your phone, right), since you probably don’t log in regularly (even though you should), make it easy for people to contact you by providing your email address, instead of messaging you through LinkedIn.

 

  1. The average time to fill a position is less than a month. If you are responding to an inMail a month or more after receiving it because you just don’t log in, the job is likely filled or close to being so. Put a reminder in your phone to log in daily for 5 minutes on your commute, while at lunch or standing on line for coffee and start reading and responding to inMails. Get in the game quickly and don’t over think an opportunity.

 

  1. Update your resume. Eventually the conversation will turn to seeing a copy of your resume. Tell them you have to update it and will send it the next day . . . but actually have one ready. This helps to create the illusion you are not looking for a new position but are open to other opportunities.

Jeff Altman7.  Hire an impartial coach to help you. Your husband, wife or partner, friend or colleague, former boss or clergy may know you but not know the job hunting process well enough to guide you. A third party recruiter . . . well, they are paid by companies to fill jobs and not look out for you. Hiring a coach to help guide you can be inexpensive long term and help you get to your destination faster.  At www.JobSearchCoachingHQ.com, we offer a ton of great information about how to be more successful with a job search, whether aggressive or passive plus you can schedule time with me to have situational questions answered.

 

Your career is in your hands. Abdicating that responsibility to others is usually very expensive no matter what field you are in.

Keeping your head down and doing a good job won’t help you if you lose your job.

Lift your head up and start looking around you. You will notice a whole new world around you.

 

 

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

 

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter is the head coach of JobSearchCoachingHQ.com and a professional recruiter with more than 40 years of experience.

Connect with me on LinkedIn

Follow me at The Big Game Hunter, Inc. on LinkedIn

Job Search Lessons from the Super Bowl

The Super Bowl is a game and, like sports in general it offers useful life lessons that we can take with us  …  if only we look below the surface. As I watch the gameeach year,  I see a number of things. How many did you see?

1. Winning is a team effort. The teams that make it to the game don’t get there by accident. There are teams of planners and leaders who are constantly evaluating player performance and performing competitive analysis of the team and its capabilities with others. Scouts are looking to improve it. A general manager looks at the draft and player cost to see where he can improve. Trainers and doctors are reviewing medicals. And then the coaches start getting involved.

You need to look at your own career in the same way in advance of when you need to make a job change. What is the market like for what you do? Do you excel, are you ordinary or below average? What can you do to upgrade your skills before management starts looking for lower cost alternatives? What is your real value (and understand that is a changing figure both up AND down)?

2. It is important to network to develop close and effective relationships with other professionals in your field. When management starts looking to hire new players, they are working with player agents who they often know from other negotiations. Doesn’t that make the process smoother for everyone?

3. Attack your search like your life depends on it. Teams often come out attacking their opponent on both offense and defense. You need to attack your search with ferocity and clear goals.

4. If your plan isn’t working, make adjustments. Both teams enter the locker room with concrete feedback about their plan and how it’s working or not working. If your plan isn’t working as well as you like, change it using the feedback you’re getting, just like the pros do. Analyze what is working and what isn’t and adapt.

5. Keep a level head about you. It’s one thing to play with a lot of emotion on the field, but it’s hard to sustain for 60 minutes. The teams come out with aggressive blitzes early in the game and attacking offenses before settling into a rhythm. In job searching, you may start off the search with a lot of fervor, but you need to remember that a search can take a long while. You need to manage your emotions for a 60-minute game and not just the first quarter.

6. Try not to be predictable. A football team that runs the same plays in the same sequence or under the same circumstances becomes predictable and other teams learn what they will do and will out perform them

7. Big mistakes don’t have to be critical. It’s one thing to be defeated on a play or a series. It’s another to make a bad call and be left exposed to a big play at a critical time. When you get to the end of the search it is best to have an agent negotiate for you rather than leave you exposed to your own emotional whipsawing; if you aren’t being represented by one, try to get input from trusted advisers with real knowledge (not your uncle who knows nothing about your industry but has good intentions).

8. Planning starts as soon as the game is over. As soon as the teams walk off the field, I can assure you that both will be planning for change for the next season and will take steps to rectify perceived weaknesses. What that means for you is that you continue your career development, training and networking even when you’ve just started a job. After all, the time when you have the most leverage in a negotiation is when you don’t need a new job.

 

 

© The Big Game Hunter, Inc. Asheville, NC  2008, 2016

 

Job Search Lessons from Super Bowl 50 (video)

 

There is a huge lesson for job hunters to be learned from Super Bowl 50.

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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.

Job Search Lessons from Super Bowl 50

 

I discuss the big lesson from this Super Bowl.

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The Super Bowl.

Super Bowl 50.

Peyton Manning. Great game!

Cam Newton. Not so good a game.

Every year I offer some information about a big lesson that we can take away from the Super Bowl. For this one, the observation I have is a pretty easy one.

The lesson really relates to older workers.

You’ve been asked to believe that as an older worker you’re subject to ageism.

I’m not going to say you’re not, but, with belief and with the determination to deliver, you can be someone who gets the job.

The Panthers were clearly a favorite team; they were young, hungry and coming off a great season. They had an MVP quarterback. The best coach in the league. Both were voted that the day before.

They walked into the game and they were metaphorically punched in the mouth by a tougher team.

Yes, the MVP the Super Bowl was a young player but every last one of the older players played tough, played hard and played effectively.

For you older workers, Denver was clearly an older team led by the oldest quarterback ever playing the Super Bowl, led by players who had been in the league for a long time on the defensive side of the ball.

For you older workers, sometimes you make excuses for why you don’t perform, why you play big on the stage, why you as an individual don’t deliver the goods.

You point to the fact that they were biased against you walking in the door because you are older.

I can telling you, “Don’t buy the bull.”

Most of the time I hear the feedback and the reason isn’t, “Well, yeah, he wouldn’t fit in here,”  which is the euphemism for old.

It’s that you didn’t really show up well.

I need to remind you that the big lesson from this game is really about delivering on the big stage.

You walk into that interview, you deliver; you deliver hard and strong and fast and don’t really worry about your age being a factor.

That’s the limiting belief that allows you to tolerate mediocrity.

“Oh, well, they won’t hire me because I’m old.”

Denver certainly proved that myth to be false.

All the players delivered on a big stage and won a huge victory.

I’ll simply say that I expect we’ll see Carolina back in the future but for one night, one opportunity, this was the victory of the older professional stand out there and hold the trophy and be the winner.

You do that for yourself as well if you play, if you deliver, if you prepare and execute the plan perfectly.

 

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

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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.