Let's begin with a basic rule, one that too many people choose to ignore: looking for a job is a job and a half. It demands the same attention to detail, the same hard work, and the same management requisites as working full time in a data processing position.
In this case, you're managing you! You're the company, and how well you manage it will determine whether "its stockholders" - you-will see the stock pay big dividends over the years.
You'd think that after more than thirty-five years of finding people jobs, I would long ago have ceased to be amazed at how many people approach job hunting like a lottery-they buy a ticket (a degree, a certificate, experience) and wait to see if their number is called. Countless talented and educated men and women fail in their chosen professions because they adopt a helter-skelter, passive philosophy, and when jobs fail to materialize, they chalk it up to "fate" or claim that the only way to get a job is to "know someone" or to "be in the right place at the right time."
No one would deny that jobs sometimes do materialize because of timing, or because we know someone who happens to be aware of an opening that's right for us. But even then, knowing such a person often is the result of working hard at building a network of friends and contacts within a field. It isn't luck that you knew the right person at the right time; give yourself more credit than that.
I recently spoke before a New York University graduate school alumni group. After I finished my success-oriented talk, a man approached me and asked if he could have a few minutes of my time. He gave me a thumbnail sketch of his background, which was quite impressive. He then told me that because he'd spent the last two years working overseas, he didn't have any contacts.
I must have looked startled, because he quickly added, "Well, hardly any."
I said, "Those few you do have can direct you to others, if you use the networking approach, and those others can direct you to even more people." I then asked him, "How well do you know the dean here?"
"I know him pretty well," he said.
My response was, "Other than administrative and management functions, what do deans generally do?"
He replied, "They're goodwill ambassadors and make every effort to generate money for the university."
"Right," I said, "and they have a tremendous number of contacts with influential businesspeople. Why don't you start right now and ask the dean for a half-hour appointment in the near future? That way, you'll have begun your networking tonight, right here."
He thanked me and said, "You've got me thinking. I just thought of some executives who might be helpful."
The point is that contacts are out there - you just have to think logically about who they are and how to get to them.
When a company is formed and sets out to succeed, it drafts a plan in which it focuses on its strengths, the sector of its overall industry in which it wishes to position itself, the competition it is likely to face, and countless other factors. A company that simply opens its doors without such a business plan is generally doomed to failure.
An individual looking for a job should do the same thing: devote enough time to thinking and research before beginning the business of job hunting.
Before developing such a plan, you must recognize the need to be organized. If you have lived your entire life keeping important names, addresses, phone numbers, and other bits of information scribbled on the backs of envelopes and on matchbook covers, you might want to consider becoming more formally organized. In fact, it's a necessity, not only for a particular job search but as a habit that will benefit you throughout your career. Being disorganized has never impressed a boss who's looking for something from you in a hurry, or a prospective employer who wasn't called back on time because you used up all the matches and tossed away the matchbook.
The place in which you work is important. So is the place from which you're conducting your job search. If you're already employed and thinking of leaving, your present office might serve, but be careful. If you haven't resigned yet and are using the company's time, supplies, and telephone to look for a job, you're almost insuring an angry boss and a bad reference. If that practical ramification doesn't faze you, consider the unfairness of it. Of course, if you have resigned and have asked for and received permission to use your office to look for another job, that's fine. The same goes if you have been fired. Many firms, recognizing the difficult position they have put an employee in, will be more than generous in allowing the dismissed person to use the office as a base of operations. If this is your situation, graciously accept the offer and utilize it, being careful, of course, not to overstep your bounds.
If you are looking for a new job and don't have the use of your former office, or if you are looking for your first job in data processing and must operate from home, creating an office atmosphere is helpful and productive. Again, let me stress that looking for a job is a job and a half. To view it as less than that is to cheat yourself of needed support systems.
Here are some things you can do to create the sense of being "on the job" when you're looking for a job.
First, find a space in your home that is conducive to establishing a work environment. That sometimes is difficult in cramped quarters shared with others, but it can be done. It takes planning, a heart-to-heart talk with those with whom you share the space, and the willingness to spend a little money to optimize the space.
A telephone is the next important item. Here's where you might have to spend some extra money, depending on your circumstances. Will others sharing your space tie up the phone for an inordinate amount of time? I wonder how many job opportunities have been lost when an employer, eager to hire someone, couldn't get through because teenagers were engaged in hour-long conversations with friends. If that's the situation in your household (and you can't talk reason to your own children), consider ordering a second line with a number that is to be used only by you.
The point is, once again, to consider your quest for a job every bit as important as a business wanting open lines of communication to prospective customers. After all, those prospective employers out there are your customers. If they can't reach you, they'll buy (hire) elsewhere.
