David E. Perry's Blog, page 20

Personal Branding: You are Nike too.

Veteran Ottawa Citizen Reporter Juliet O'Neil has delivered a brilliant 5 part series on the growing phenomenon of temporary workers entitled "Trapped & Temporary". It's brilliantly researched, well written and a must read. "Temping, Contracting and Offshoring" aren't going to go away. They're permanent fixtures on the North American employment scene. 

 

Here's what you can bank on:

1. The offshoring trend won't stop anytime soon.

2. Companies will continue to maximize profits and reduce costs.

3. The government will not solve your career problems—at best it will provide limited retraining assistance.

Job Scurity

Your job is at risk and subject to being replaced by a "temp" if:

1. It can be broken down into many smaller tasks that can be redistributed to lower skilled, lower paid workers;

2. Your company's profits are under constant assault by low cost competitors; or

3. Someone else with a high-school education can do your job with less than a week's training.

Take control of your job and your life today. Start managing your career as a professional services provider of YOU INC.: learn how to brand yourself, increase your value, and ensure a steady stream of demand for your unique talents.

It's not the strongest of the species, nor the most intelligent, that survive; it's the one most responsive to change.
—CHARLES DARWIN

Compliments of David E Perry and Kevin Donlin. For more creative job search tactics, go to the Guerrilla Marketing for job hunters blog and download the free audio CD.

Thank you notes for when you don't get the offer

It's Friday Guerrilla and Friday is the best day to do two things:

book interviews for next week
fill your opportunity pipeline

It's also a great day to examine your job hunt progress. 

What progress have you made this week?  [Which employers are you going to speak with next week?]  How where your interviews?  Did you send thank you notes to everyone you talked to? Even the ones where you where not successful.... that's an often over looked source of leads.  Just because you didn't get the job or even the interview shouldn't stop you from saying thank you. 

Stop and think about this for a minute.  Have you ever gotten a thank you card from someone whom you didn't hire?  What would you think?  Crazy *&%#* Let me tell you how I would react -  yes I know CEOs and hiring managers in general will react this way – remember I do this for a living.

One of your best sources for leads to fill your pipeline are the people who turn you down. That's right – and it doesn't matter at what level in the company they're at. They know who else is hiring … they also know which companies may have a problem you can solve BECAUSE they've just spent more than a few hours interviewing a ton of people. Talk about competitive intelligence!

Now you just need to follow up with a thank you note for the interview – expressing your sincere gratitude for their time and your interest in staying in touch.  And 5 days AFTER you mail the note you call them and ask who else among their colleagues has plans to:

Increase their sales this quarter
Take market share from competitors
Open new markets

Or what ever it is you specialize in....

PS. THEY ALSO KNOW WHERE THE PERSON THEY JUST HIRED IS COMING FROM. Think about that …

Compliments of David E Perry and Kevin Donlin. For more creative job serach tactics go to the Guerrilla Marketing for job hunters blog and download the free audio CD.

Rules for email correspondence:

Using email to job hunt is a crapshoot on the best of days because most job hunters don't know how to give good email.  Here are a few hard and fast Perry Rules to insure your message AND resume get through and get read:

Make sure your Subject line gives me a reason to read the message. "George Smith's cover letter and resume" is not a good enough reason for me to open and read it.
You're cover email should get my attention within the first three sentences. Remember you only have 10 seconds to make an impression. So do not waste it telling me you're "Hard working and enthusiastic".
Address the email to a specific person
Tell me why I should read your resume in one paragraph.

 

Here's an example of an email that got through to me. Got opened. Got read and Got a phone call back. What made the difference?

Well I can't cut and paste the note into the body of this blog but first of all it was actually addressed to me David Perry – not occupant or the email equivalent "hr@anycompany.com"

Next the subject line got my attention because they creatively told me something about themselves: Energetic, Executive, Venture Experience.

Then their opening paragraph really grabbed me:

"Marketing savvy executive experienced in business development. Action oriented manager will bring sale closing strength and team building expertise to launch a new product or developing a new territory. My goal is to move to the N Carolina/Florida coast in summer 2001. I want to be financially rewarded for superior results".

This one is direct and to the point. If I had a Job Order I'd read it immediately. If I did business in Southern USA I'd read it. If I did business with start-ups I read it. I did read it and I liked what I saw. Successful candidate with real skills and accomplishment who's motivated to accelerate their career and they know were they want to work.
Doesn't get a whole lot better than this for a "bulk" email.

Now, make sure you cut and paste - in plain text - your resume into the body of the message BECAUSE most recruiters will not open attachments for fear of catching a virus....

Personal Branding lesson from : Would the Terminator get Terminated

Used wisely, email is a great tool. It's instant and costs next to nothing compared to the mail AND your targets secretary won't intercept and delete it!

Guess AGAIN! 

The challenge is getting your message delivered - and opened. The proliferation of SPAM of all kinds has forced most employers and certainly all head-hunters to install sophisticated software that automatically deletes unapproved email.

So how can you increase the likelihood that yours will be one of the very few unsolicited emails that gets opened? The answer is both simple and difficult: write a great subject line.

To do this, you must be clear, compelling and specific.  Here's a drab, uninspiring subject line like the hundreds I get every single day:

 

Sales VP Resume attached for your review

Yawn. It entirely lacks sizzle, a sense of urgency, and specifics.  What a waste of ether. I wouldn't open it.

Let's bring it to life:

David, how many VPSales can generate $150 M new revenues in just three years?

It's long, but it takes you somewhere interesting. It has a fighting chance of enticing a click-through.

In the previous example, the jobseeker has no direct personal or business connection with the potential employer. But if there is such a connection, make it clear in the subject line, in an intriguing way:

David, Bob Hannah says you and I should talk

So your subject line does its job and the email gets opened. Now your first paragraph closes in for the kill. It can't be like this:

As a senior sales and company executive, I have developed, mentored, and managed high performance sales teams, installed sales metrics and created sales plans and strategies in highly competitive markets. My experience includes both national and international duties.

Feel like you've read this before? I have, thousands of times. It's as generic as an airport lounge. I get thousands like this every week. I never ever read them! To have an impact, the opening paragraph needs to have personality, attitude, and substance. Something like:

Hello David Perry,

 

Sales

VPs—they're a dime a dozen. Right? Yes—with a few exceptions. Like me.

From June 2002 until March 2005, I drove revenues at XYZ Corporation from $80 million (and flat) to $130 million (and still rising). Before that, the sales team I led at XCO had the highest numbers across the global organization—18 quarters in a row.  Now I'm ready to repeat that kind of success for another company—like yours. Are you ready to talk to me? If so, give me a call right now at 123-4567. Let's talk.

See the differences Guerrilla? Now it's your turn. Drop and give me 20 then write a couple of your own and ask yourself – would anyone besides your mother open and read it?  Don't be terminated.

Compliments of David E Perry and Kevin Donlin. For more creative job search tactics, go to the Guerrilla Marketing for job hunters blog and download the free audio CD.

Become "The Expert; #8 of 47 Ways To Find A Job Today

Become recognized and branded as an "industry expert" by writing and producing a newsletter. All you really need to do is summarize best practices – add your experience or comments – print and mail it. When you send a newsletter with topical information that's actually useful, employers may recognize your name when you telephone, making them more likely to take your call. When they in turn are looking to hire someone with your expertise you're likely to be one of their first calls.

Newsletters should be 1-4 pages but no longer.
Summarize lengthy pieces and refer the reader to your web site for the full text version.
You can dress up the newsletter without breaking the bank by using pre-printed paper from companies like Paper Direct, http://paperdirect.com/
Make an electronic version and put it on your website.

Skeptical?  Don't be.  Everyone takes the "experts" phone call. 

Compliments of David E Perry and Kevin Donlin. For more creative job search tactics, go to the Guerrilla Marketing for job hunters blog and download the free audio CD.

48 Essential LinkedIn Tips Your Teachers Won't Tell You | Online Colleges

July 24th, 2011

via www.onlinecolleges.net

These are Great LinkedIn Tips which are Fast and Easy to Implement.

What a difference one smile makes.

I'm in the Gatineau hospital waiting for Anita's surgery to finish. I don't like hospitals much. I don't think most people do.

For me it's the memory of spending 8 months on C-Block at Fitsimmones General in Denver with 50 other terminal patients. Most were casualties from the Vietnam War, sent to Denver for a last chance look see if anything could be done for them. The memories are still quiet vivid.

What I remember most, was the atmosphere.

I was 11 at the time and classified as terminal. Every man on the floor was. It's frightening what Man's weapons of mass destruction can do to a man and still leave enough of him to avoid a toe tag. It was utterly depressing the first few days until I met George.

He had a funny laugh. Worse than mine. And it was contagious.

I don't remember George's last name. What I do remember is that he was the ward clown, the main event, and ringmaster all wrapped up into one. And he lived large. From his wheelchair he daily cajoled and entertained everyone on C-Block.

He once confessed to me that knowing he was terminal had given his life new meaning. And that his mission was to make everyone he came in contact with smile.

He said he had a choice to either accept his lot in life and go out depressed and bitter or smile and laugh all the way to Heaven's Gate. I had the same choice he said. Everyone does. And then of course he demanded that I chose now.

Now obviously, I chose the high road - life. Anyone that knows me knows I see "silver linings on every cloud - pots of gold and Platinum pucks (it's a Canadian thing).

After 6 months in hospital I finally had the heart surgery that saved my life. I was lucky. My surgery was delayed several times because I was too sick to operate on and each boy who passed in front of me in the que died. My surgery was still novel and had never been performed successfully in North America back in 1971.

While I was waiting for my surgery George taught me how to play poker. How to market myself and make money. (I set up a courier company inside the hospital called "Anything for a Nickel Incorporated" and to run errands for the staff and earn a little spending money.) And how to laugh really big hearty laughs.

George also showed me how to live like everyday mattered and that the mountains in front of me where just speed bumps on the road to success. That I am in charge of Me Inc. and that by changing my outlook I can change my results.

He encouraged (forced is too hard a term - but he did withhold my ice cream at dinner if I failed to summarize that day's reading.) I was fed a steady diet of Napoleon Hill, Churchill's memoirs and every reel of The Three Stouges he could find. (George believed in "balance".)

We ran movie night - every night and dragged everyone who wasn't hardwired to their oxygen in to the cafeteria to laugh with us. We even "borrowed a copy of Barberela" when it first came out and showed that too. No one called Jane Fonda Hanoi Jane I we were all just smitten.

Sometimes it felt like everyone but our families had just given up on us. But we lived large. We rolled with it everyday and made the most of our opportunities. Knowing we had nothing to lose emboldened us. We really lived!

So why don't I like hospitals?

Because there seem to be fewer and fewer George's when I have to visit. Hospitals all seem so staid to me. The staff are too serious. The doctors are sterile, and more apt to speak in terms of the "odds of this or that" - so as to avoid future litigation.... than see the terrified individual in front of them and try to comfort them let alone give them hope.

But this morning was different.

The woman who runs the cash at the coffee shop in the basement of the hospital was full of life and laughter.

From my first interaction she made my spirits soar!

I instantly recognized my responsibility to my happiness and the need to help others around me soar too! Wrapped up in my own little world as I am today, I forgot that attitude is everything AND that attitude is contagious.

So let me stop now and ask you a serious question.

Are there any lessons here for job hunters? I think there are but that's my nature. Are the people around you helping or hurting you? Do they see a positive outcome for you or do they remind you of how "bad" it is out there? Did they remind you, that "John or Mary" are still looking too OR tell you that 4,000,000 Americans were hired last month AND 2,900,000 jobs were on record as unfilled?

What do you think?  Do you need a George in your life!

EPILOGUE:
I left the hospital in May 1971, 2 months after ground breaking heart surgery saved my life. Two months after surgery the nurse warned my father I wasn't likely to survive (I actually heard her tell my father to kiss me good bye as they were putting me under. I can still make out the sound of a helicopter touching down on the roof above the operating theatre, shepherding the surgeon who would save my life.)

When I was discharged I had $1100 in my pockets. (My mother who had just being discharged from a hospital in Colorado Springs confiscated my "ill gotten gains" and confiscated them (I got it all back a few weeks later.)) That was a lot of money for a kid. Back then my father's salary as a Navy Lt Commander was $5000.

On the down side I failed grade 5 and was told I would need to repeat it the following year, but I didn't care. The lessons I learned on C-Block would carry through the rest of my life.

I learned so much on C-Block, not the least of which is that your attitude determines your altitude.

George, well he went on to do great things because he had no legs to slow him down and no ears to hear distracting words.

Life is good. Anita will recover beautifully. Live your best life ever!

- David

Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network

#8 of 47 Ways To Find A Job Today

Become "The Expert"
Become recognized and branded as an "industry expert" by writing and producing a newsletter. All you really need to do is summarize best practices – add your experience or comments – print and mail it. When you send a newsletter with topical information that's actually useful, employers may recognize your name when you telephone, making them more likely to take your call. When they in turn are looking to hire someone with your expertise you're likely to be one of their first calls.

♦ Newsletters should be 1-4 pages but no longer.

♦ Summarize lengthy pieces and refer the reader to your web site for the full text version.

♦ You can dress up the newsletter without breaking the bank by using pre-printed paper from companies like Paper Direct, http://paperdirect.com/

♦ Make an electronic version and put it on your website.

Skeptical?  Don't be.  Everyone takes the "experts" phone call. 

Compliments of David E Perry and Kevin Donlin.
For more creative job search tactics, go to the Guerrilla Marketing for job hunters blog and download the free audio CD.

Get Hired Today - Go Guerrilla!

Let's be honest.  It's tough out there.  For every job opening, hundreds of people are applying, hoping it will be theirs.  You've probably discovered that getting a new job has been an exercise in frustration. Especially if you're playing by the old rules.

Because, as you've learned …

The Old Rules for Job Hunting Do NOT Work – Not Now!

Most job seekers are doing the same things: sending resumes, applying online through job websites, and reading the help wanted ads.

You, too?

Ask yourself: "Am I finding any success by doing it this way?"

Why Guerrilla Marketing?

Unlike regular military units, Special Forces face the most-daunting assignments. As a former military man myself, I can tell you from experience that Special Forces units rely on their unconventional experience, training, and creativity to achieve their objective.  This is where the term Guerrilla comes from.

In fact, America started in "guerrilla" fashion, more than 235 years ago.

British soldiers marched toward Lexington and Concord to gather the stored arms of the "rebellious colonists" and to arrest their leaders John Hancock and Samuel Adams.  Those British soldiers in their red coats marched in long straight lines. They were the best in the world. And yet they lost — badly — to a bunch of farmers, carpenters, and regular folk.  Why?  Because the colonists adapted, used their versatility, and creativity… and chose not to play by the old rules.  They became guerrillas.

Those "new rules" secured America's place in history.  Now it's your turn, to secure your future.

The team that put together the Guerrilla Job Search products and services on this site are all professional headhunters (recruiters) and marketing gurus.  And, because you get our "inside" knowledge, you will maximize your personal experience, training, and creativity to land your next job -  Faster.

We won't teach you how to do anything unethical.

Instead, we'll change how you think, make you adaptable, unleash your creativity, and maximize all your personal assets. You will transform from just another job seeker into one who stands-out.   In essence, you will become a Special Forces Guerrilla who's ready to experience victory.

Becoming A Special Forces Guerrilla

You don't have to read or buy everything we've produced. But if you're truly motivated, you will digest and act on what you discover here.  The faster you do so, the faster you will land a new job.  It's that simple.

You won't read any "theories" or or untried ideas here.   Instead, you will discover exactly what to do and say, in your Guerrilla Resumes, cover letters, and job interviews.  Nothing is left to chance.

This is state-of-the-moment advice — including such topics as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter — puts you ahead of your competition and top-of-mind with hiring managers.

Real Success Is Just Ahead

One last thing: you deserve more than a job. You deserve a fulfilling life. Few people get that.  In fact, the U.S. Commerce Department tells us that 80% of employed people are not content with their job.

What a shame.

Because, the truth is, landing the job of your dreams is not as hard as you think. It's simply a matter of changing how you think.  That's exactly what you'll learn here — how to think differently.   And most important of all, we'll show you how to act differently. So you can get hired faster.

The average job search in America is now 39.4 weeks.  Take heart,  there are many many examples in the book and other materials here on this web site where guerrilla job hunters have landed new jobs in 6 – 10 weeks, on average - 300% faster than the national average.  My wish is that you become a "guerrilla success story" too.

You're in the right place.

If you want more people calling you for interviews, if you want more people knowing your name, sharing your links, and singing your praises, if you want to take your interviews to their rightful conclusion while cutting the number of hours you spend looking dramatically … we teach people how to do that all the time.

My name is David Perry – but you don't care about me, you care about you. Your career. Your challenges.  Your life. Let's focus on that.

You want a great job. I'm here to help, with one-on-one consulting from certified coaches, done-for-you services, and a whole catalog full of training, so you can quickly learn how to get more people to want to interview and hire you.

Take a look at what's available here. It will help you land a great job faster!

Start with the free stuff  like the audio CD (you'll find I give away more strategies in my free resources than most people put in their paid products – it's powerfully useful stuff).
Then read our Blog – more than 750 posts of tips tricks and tactics that'll land you in front of hiring authorities and help you land the offer {OR read some of the 150+ articles we've been quoted in}.
And if you're ready to kick it up to full speed, check out our "Products" – I've got THE best online and offline training in the business – and unlike the other guys, I'm not demanding your first born child for it. 
So take a look – and take a 30-day test drive of anything in the store – I'm sure you'll love it.  And it's all guaranteed.

Please enjoy the free advice (over 70,000+ words of it), the free audio & video tutorials and any training you invest in.  Most importantly, put what you learn into action. That's what will get you interviewed and hired.

Let's make, it happen.

To your future!

David Perry
Co-Director, Guerrilla Job Search International

"Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics --- America's Lemming Culture.

You just know I've had enough when I quote Mark Twain first thing Monday morning.  But frankly, I really can't take much more of this idiocy. 

I love America and this bull#&*% "hopeless" attitude that is so pervasive in the media - press, TV, radio - is going to kill us all.  

"Lies, damned lies, and statistics" is a phrase describing the persuasive power of numbers, particularly the use of statistics to bolster weak arguments or in this case rampant stupidity. 

I am of course talking about the latest "sky-is-falling" headlines following the June jobs report: Hiring slows, unemployment rises.

Now I'm not disagreeing with the stats and I'm not arguing that "New Jobs" aren't important.  They are!

BUT those numbers only tell half the story --- and it's the bad half. 

The 1/2 of the news that just sucks and makes people want to throw up their hands and give up.  But it's NOT the whole story IN FACT it's misleading.  It's shallow reporting.  {I  could apologize and point out that reporters don't have as much time as they need to investigate stories BUT that's another story.}

One of the great under-reported/unreported stories during the recession is that American employers have jobs they can't fill. 

What statistics reveal in the midst of the weakest economy in several decades and a national unemployment rate stuck around 9%, is that employers have jobs which can't be filled.   Month after month there are jobs that go unfilled.

How many jobs went unfilled last month? 

That's easy.  It's a well known number.  At least with me! 

Just go to this US Bureau of Labor Statistics link to see http://tinyurl.com/nku3d9  Today it shows that 2.9M jobs went unfilled.   Yes I know that 14.1 million Americans are officially unemployed and only 18,000 new jobs were created in June and that was worse than May, when 25,000 new jobs were created but THERE'S STILL 2,900,000 jobs that went unfilled.  Would knowing that prompt you to wonder why?  {Please say yes or you will be unemployed for a long long time.}

Here's the real problem.  

More than 99% of jobs are not advertised anymore!

Why?

Because employers are ill equipped to deal with the avalanche of resumes, each one of which has to be filed, tracked and replied to for EEO reasons.  A typical newspaper or job board add may receive 5,000 or more replies consuming hundreds of hours of time to respond to.  No one can afford to waste the time advertising under these conditions and it only takes advertising once to draw this conclusion.   So, the vast majority of jobs remain unadvertised -- they are invisible to ordinary job seekers.  However, millions of people are being hired and if you want to know how many, just Click this link: http://www.bls.gov/news.release/jolts.t02.htm

Now, the other side of the equation. 

Know how many people where hired last month in America?  I'll bet you guessed between NONE and a couple hundred thousand.   BUT not almost 4,000,000.  But that's the truth -  4M people.  And nearly 4M the month before.  Again you can see that with this link: http://www.bls.gov/news.release/jolts.t02.htm

What this means Dear Job Hunter AND journalists who write about the economy and "jobs", is that at this rate America will have nearly 50M "employment transactions" this year WITHOUT having many new jobs created.  AND - most importantly - without your having seen many of the 50M jobs advertised. 

Am I the only one who thinks this is important? 

It's critical for the economy and the psyche of individual job hunters everywhere.  The average job search in America now takes 39.4 weeks! 

Why? 

Because the average job seeker listens to the news and hears how horrible it is out there and concludes there's not much they can do about it and go back to watching Oprah or Ellen or whatever is on television in the middle of the day.  When what they should be doing is trying to figure out how to find one of the 2.9M jobs that went unfilled last month. This is not rocket-science folks.  It just requires a little ingenuity.

When did America became home to so many job-search Lemmings!

Where have the creative problem solving skills that made America great gone? 

Which begs the question: what the heck are the city and state sponsored employment centers teaching job hunters these days?  How to write a better resume!!!! therer's no point.  That's setting them up to FAIL!  Responding to job openings is necessary BUT it's also a crap shoot.  No!  You have better odds in Vegas.

For G** sake get people off the web, away from the newspaper and teach them how to find companies that have a problem they can fix and then tell that job hunter how to reach out to that individual with the problem [that's an opportunity in disguise] and tell them how they can fix it.

So back to "Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics --- and America's Lemming Culture.  If you know someone who's job hunting please tell them that last month there were nearly 4M people hired in America and the nearly 3M jobs went unfilled.  Then after when they recover from the SHOCK!!!!! ask them please, how they're going to penetrate the hidden job market and find one of those jobs.  One way is to Google creative job search tactics and see what others are doing another is to use some of that American made resourcefulness and create your won strategy.  Pick and chose but GET OFF YOUR ASS and do something today!

Thanks,

David Perry

aka The Rogue Recruiter, co-author Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters 3.0