Moats Kennedy Inc.

You’ve been unemployed for six months.  Imagine that in 60 days you will be completely out of money, unable to pay your bills, dependent on family or friends for loans.  You wouldn’t even have money for bus fare.  What would you do differently?  Right now you’re working at your job hunt 30 hours a week.  You’re networking, meeting people for coffee, attending association meetings, and getting names from LinkedIn and your alumni association.  In my scenario that’s not nearly enough.  If you were truly anxious to be employed here’s what you would do.

1.  Get a weekend job.  It can be any job that pays the minimum wage or more!  Work as a temp two or three days a week.  Any job that doesn’t interfere with your job hunt and generates cash flow works.  Even if you didn’t need the money I’d suggest this.  Few people have the ego strength to spend 60 hours a week on a job hunt.  Most need some positive affirmation, as well as money, which a weekend job can provide.

2.  Expand the hours you work at job hunting.  Nine to five is so last century.  You can find people in their offices at early as 7 a.m. and after 7 p.m. as well.  One client reported more calls taken early and late and none during the middle of the day.  Try it.  What can you lose?

3.  Re-contact everyone you haven’t talked to in three months.  In this market, a week can be situation-changing.  The new hire who was on the job three months and walked, the unexpected retire whose job no one has yet attempted to fill, the unexpected medical leave for a key employee are all opportunities for diligent job hunters.

4.  Consider a short-term job and keep looking.  Serious professionals dis this strategy because what if your dream job appeared during the short-term job?  You’d quit and take the dream job, of course!  However, if you’re in a smaller community that may not happen as quickly as you’d expect.  The number of openings may be geographically limited.

5.  Cut expenses further.  Don’t even pretend to yourself that you’ve done all you can.  When the pantry is bare and the car on empty you’ve done it all.  Sell things you don’t need.  What do you need that you wouldn’t enjoy as much six months from now?

6.  Barter for things you need.  I have clients who’ve gotten help they couldn’t afford by bartering services.  If you are a computer whiz there are a ton of small businesses who need your help.  Stop into one down the street and see what the owner wants and will trade services to get.

Finally, keep moving.  The people whose job hunts take the longest are those who don’t plod at full speed.  One tiny diversion can extend your job hunt a week.  Building momentum is not only critical but it’s important to your mental health.  Only you can motivate you and make you feel less desperate.

“Always a bride’s maid never a bride” is a cliché with a bit of truth.  If you consistently are told, “You were our second choice,” or “We would have offered you the job but another candidate blew us away,” don’t turn away and vow you’ll do better next time.  Hear the fact in the polite brush off.  You are not fully competitive with other candidates.  What could be missing?  Consider the following.

1.  You sound canned in the interview.  This happens to people who have been through so many interviews they come across as perfunctory.  Each interview has to be treated as show time!  Did you stand during the telephone interview so you’d project energy?  Did you learn forward slightly when you answered questions in person?  Did you come across as vitally interested in the interviewer, company, and job?  Time for a reality check.  Look at yourself on video and you be the judge.

2.  This was a practice interview for you.  There are at least two schools of thought on interviewing for jobs you’re not remotely interested in.  One says that any interview is a learning experience and worth the effort.  Another says don’t interview for a job you wouldn’t take.  For job hunters out of work more than six months, go with the former.  For job hunters just starting the hunt adhere to the latter.  Why? If you’re a long-term job hunter you won’t stay sharp unless you interview several times a month.  However, if rejection has become your middle name, save yourself for serious interviews only.  If you’re just starting out and unfocused interview with anyone who’ll talk to you.  You can only become focused by eliminating all job categories you explore enough to realize there is no fit.

3.  You are more discouraged than you thought and it shows.  Get some professional help!  Without it you can’t sell yourself.  There are multiple options from very expensive to reasonable.  You’ll end up getting advice later so why not do it sooner.  Get references.  Degrees, certificates, and self-proclaimed experts who don’t know squat about discouraged job hunters abound.  Only someone who’s been in your situation can make a useful recommendation.

4.  You’ve changed your job objective.  Revise your resume — again.  The job hunter is not looking for the same job he/she was at the beginning of the hunt but hasn’t given a name to what he/she now wants.  This is far more common than you’d think.  Because interviews are a learning event on both sides the job hunter has begun to realize he wants to do something else, even with the same title or same job category.  Until he/she revises the resume to reflect the new objective he/she faces certain rejection.  How is that done?  By picking different accomplishments necessary to a different job objective.  Remember, it’s called a resume, not my complete autobiography.

What;s important:  Don’t decide it’s bad luck that you didn’t get the job.  Ask yourself how much you wanted it.  Was it really a great fit or are you evolving and need to rethink your job objective and strategy?  If you’ve been job hunting nine months, even in this economy, and you’re not getting offers, your strategy isn’t working.